


A Force Against Inertia

by Dixxy



Series: Laws of Motion [2]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Captivity, Gen, Hallucinations, Hurt/Comfort, Mad Scientists, Paranormal, Psychological Torture, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-23
Updated: 2012-08-05
Packaged: 2017-11-10 13:04:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 30
Words: 64,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/466618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dixxy/pseuds/Dixxy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was supposed to be a simple job - sending Nami to rob an enemy pirate ship AND letting Sanji tag along for extra protection? It should have been easy.</p><p>Instead, the cook and navigator find themselves ensnared in a trap set by the mad scientist pirate, Thomas Tesla, known for running experiments on other pirates. Force fed Devil Fruits, tortured, and finding themselves locked in a cold little holding cell with only each other for comfort, Sanji and Nami wait for a chance to escape or for Luffy and the others to come to their rescue.</p><p>But as the days turns to weeks and the weeks turn to months, hope begins to fade and their situation begins to worsen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sanji and Nami try to rob a ship. It doesn't go as planned.

                It was a harmless enough looking ship flying a Jolly Roger that wore protective eye goggles and had bubbling flasks on either side of the grinning skull. Nami and Sanji stood just beyond the dock, eyeing the ship carefully as the navigator decided the best way to sneak on board, find the treasure, and get out again.

                “Okay. What we can do is climb up those shipping crates over there and jump on board from there. It doesn’t look like they’re keeping a heavy guard on the ship, so I doubt they have a LOT of money, but the ship is in good enough repair that they’re likely to have something. If not, we’ll leave and try another ship,” Nami said.

                Sanji nodded dumbly at her, cigarette clenched in his teeth and a stupid grin on his face. “Anything you say, Nami-san!” Nami rolled her eyes and sighed – it was probably better that she had Sanji with her than going alone – just in case something happened – but he could really be obnoxious sometimes.

                The two snuck closer to the crates, keeping their eyes open for the goggle ship’s crew and dock workers. It seemed like the coast was clear, so Nami started to climb the crates. Sanji started behind her, but she turned and glared at him. “Wait until I get up. You have no business looking up my skirt, idiot,” she said.

                 “Yes, Nami-san!”

                “And keep quiet!”                                      

                Sanji agreed more quietly and Nami gave him the go-ahead to join her once she reached the top. He showed off, ascending the crates with powerful leaps and bounds in a manner of seconds, getting to where she stood in less than half the time. He grinned stupidly, waiting for her approval. Nami rolled her eyes at him and sighed.

                “Let’s just get this over with.” The two made the easy leap to the ship, high fived when they boarded, and proceeded to find their way into the hull. They didn’t notice pirates in white lab coats appear once they descended into the bowels of the ship and signal for the crates to be brought back  on board. In particular, a stoic woman with brown hair in a bun and thick rimmed glasses was giving an order to their navigator.

                “Set course before they’re missed. We’ve got them.”

 

                “Nami-san, this almost seems too easy,” Sanji said. He scratched his head as they found what appeared to be the treasure stores which, as Nami had suspected, was more than enough for them to feed the crew and for her to have a little extra. Although being around Nami usually put him a good mood, Sanji felt a sudden sense of uneasiness and a desire to grab the navigator and not stop running until they were off that ship.

                Not that he expected to feel safe on another pirate crew’s ship, but he didn’t expect to feel this sense of impending danger. He chewed on his cigarette. Something wasn’t adding up. A ship this big should have had someone on watch but they hadn’t seen anyone – not even a cabin boy. Why was this ship devoid of people? It didn’t make any sense.

                Nami didn’t seem as bothered, too busy thinking over what she would spend her cut of the treasure on. “Huh?” she asked, barely paying any attention. “Yeah, yeah, whatever Sanji-kun.” She took a few steps forward and turned on her heels, grinning as she clasped her hands together. “We need to find some-” Nami paused when she saw the cook’s frown. She sighed. “What?”

                “Shouldn’t we have had a harder time sneaking on board?”

                The navigator seemed to consider this. “Yeah. Where was the watch?”

                “Crews don’t survive on the Grand Line this long by just leaving their ships unguarded in busy ports,” said Sanji. “I mean, our captain’s a complete idiot but even we never left Merry or Sunny alone. This is weird.” He reached over to take Nami’s hand, which she pulled away from him and replaced with a harsh glare. “Nami-san, I think we need to get out of here.”

                Nami looked longingly at the treasure before nodding and sighing. “Okay. Let’s go.”

                Sanji breathed a sigh of relief and closed his eyes, just as the ship started to move. They looked at each other in confusion before realization hit and their eyes widened in shock. “They came out of hiding or came back and now they’re leaving!” Sanji said. “Shit, Nami-san, we gotta leave right now!”

                Nami swore under her breath – this was probably some kind of trap and she and Sanji were the rats. “Damn, and me without my ClimaTact!” she whined, cursing Usopp for taking so long to fix it after that Marine had broken it. She followed Sanji out the door as the two of them started to run through the hallways of the ship.

                Sirens began to scream.

                “ _Enemy pirates below deck. Capture and detain immediately._ ”

The sound came from everywhere as they ran through the underbelly of the ship. _How did they know we were here!?_ “Damn it, they know we’re here!” Despite her earlier protests, Sanji swept Nami off the ground and started to run, the navigator screaming and yelling at him the entire time, demanding to be put down as the cook flew up the stairs towards the deck.

                “SANJI-KUN, PUT ME DOWN! I CAN RUN ON MY OWN!”

                “FORGIVE ME, NAMI-SWAN, THIS IS FASTER!”

                Through the bowels of the ship they ran, passing screaming pirates and a few men and women in white lab coats. Sanji wondered why in the world a bunch of lab researchers would be on a pirate ship but decided he’d rather find out AFTER he’d gotten Nami off the ship and someplace safer – there was no time for that.

                Nami continued to protest, but eventually just gave up and wrapped her arms around his neck as she held on for dear life. Part of Sanji was thrilled she was clinging to him so tightly, but mostly he was concerned with getting them the hell off of that ship. The announcement that there were “enemy pirates below deck” and the blasting of the sirens were making him start to panic.

                He had to get Nami out of there. He just HAD to.

                Nami, for her part, was looking around the inside of the ship as they ran (or, rather, as Sanji ran). Funny, this didn’t seem like a normal ship – the interior was largely metal, not wood, and looked very, very clean for a den of pirates (although between Sanji, Robin, herself, and surprisingly enough, Brook, the Thousand Sunny was another exception to the “dirty pirate ship” rule). Moreover, the place smelled really clean, too, almost like a hospital or Chopper’s infirmary – it was the sterile kind of clean, not the “freshly done laundry” or “just out of the shower” clean.

                Something about this ship was very, very weird and Nami regretted choosing this ship to rob.

                Sanji kicked the door to the outside open and burst onto the deck, where a mixture of crewmen and rifle-bearing pirates had flooded the previously abandoned deck. The pair gasped, wondering where they had all come from, before the cook made a beeline for the side of the ship. They could still see the island, and even the Thousand Sunny on the western side – all they had to do was swim, and they were both strong swimmers.

                Nami wasn’t as thrilled with this plan and started to yell as the pirates began to shoot at them.

                “YOU IDIOT! WE CAN’T JUST JUMP IN THE OCEAN AND SWIM!”

                “WE HAVE NO CHOICE, NAMI-SAN!”

                “SANJI-KUN, THIS IS INSANE!”

                “I’M GETTING US OFF THIS – DAGHHH!!!!”

                Sanji collapsed to the deck after another shot was fired, nearly crushing Nami in the process. The navigator was ready to yell when she realized he was quickly losing consciousness and had several darts protruding from his back. Her eyes widened. “Tranquilizers?!”  Before she could stand up, however, they were surrounded by gun wielding pirates, all of the barrels pointed at her.

                The navigator wanted to protest, but there was nothing she could do. Sanji was out cold and there was no way she’d be able to stand up to all of these men unarmed and by herself. Nami watched the Thousand Sunny disappear from view out of the corner of her eye as she raised her hands above her head in surrender.

 

                “Captain?”

                Captain Thomas Tesla looked up from his research and crossed his legs. “Yes?” he said, lifting his safety goggles to look at his first mate better. “What do you need? I’m in the middle of observing the effects of sulfuric acid on seastone.” He looked down at the hunk of seastone in his petri dish and sighed – nothing was happening.

                First Mate Curie stepped into her captain’s office, a clipboard clutched to her chest. “We had an incident, sir, although I must admit the incident was partially my doing. We laid out The Crates to find replacements for 0541 and 0542,” she said. She sat in the chair across from his desk, neatly placing her glasses on the end of her nose as she looked over the contents of the board. “A pair of pirates from another crew decided to break onto the ship – it appears their goal was our research grants.”

                ‘Research grants’ was a loose term the crew used to describe their haul of treasure.

                “Oh?” Tesla said. “What can you tell me about them?”

                Curie smiled. “Both human, one male and one female.  Male subject is approximately nineteen years of age and in good health, though he appears to be addicted to cigarettes. Female subject is approximately eighteen years of age and also in good health. Both have been secured in Lab 16 with seastone restraints, although we’ve determined they are not Devil Fruit users.”

                “And how did you test?”

                “They were not disturbed by the seastone, sir.”

                “Do you know who they are?”

                “Yes – reports indicate they are members of the Straw Hat Pirates under captain Monkey D. Luffy. The male subject is known as Black Leg Sanji – he carries a bounty of 77 million berries. The female subject is known as Burglar Cat Nami – she carries a bounty of 16 million berries. Their captain has a bounty of 300 million berries and is currently listed as a Supernova along with their first mate, Roronoa Zoro, whose bounty is 120 million.”

                The captain nodded. A 77 million berry head on his ship wasn’t a small affair, and having an angry 300 million pirate captain with a 120 million first mate was even more troublesome if they were found. They would need to keep moving and ensure that this Monkey D. Luffy man didn’t find his captured man and woman.

                “We wanted to wait for you before we began the rest of the experiment cycle.”

                Tesla felt his lip curl into a grin. He’d been itching to test his latest research as well, and here he finally had a pair of test subjects to work with. “Of course, Curie – we should start right away.” He stood, recorded the final observations of the seastone experiment and summoned one of his assistants to clean up. He was very interested in the contents of Lab 16 and the experiments he would get to run on them.


	2. 01

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sanji and Nami assume that their captor wants a ransom - they're horribly mistaken.

                Nami was livid. She wasn’t sure who she was more angry with. She could be mad at Luffy for eating all of their food and by proxy landing her in this situation. She could be mad at Sanji for not getting them out of this situation and instead being shot by a tranquilizer gun. Ultimately she decided it was her own damn fault for not realizing sooner it was a trap.

                Sanji was still unconscious, his head hanging forward as his shoulders slowly rose and fell as he breathed. The pirates had, strangely enough, brought them into a sterile looking room with two chairs bolted to the ground and seastone wrist and ankle restraints. They’d both been stripped of everything but their shoes, shirts, and bottoms – Sanji’s tie, jacket, and cigarettes had been taken away, and Nami had furiously yelled at the ones who took away her bracelet and the Log Pose.

                She fumed in her chair. Luffy and the others were going to make these idiots pay.

               They had been in this room for a while. There was a clock on the wall across from the chairs, and she’d been watching it slowly tick. _Every second that passes brings Luffy closer, right?_ she tried to tell herself. Nami sighed, shuffling in her seat. She was uncomfortable, and now her nose was starting to itch. She twitched it, trying to make the itch go away, but instead made it worse.

                Sanji started to stir next to her and looked at her with droopy eyes. “Wha happened?”

                “Tranquilizers. I think this was a trap.”

                Sanji, still sleepy, stared ahead. “Shit.”

                “My thoughts exactly.” She sighed and leaned her head back. “It’s been three hours since they left us here. They took your wallet and your cigarettes, and they’ve got the Log Pose.” Nami concentrated on her breathing for a few more moments, waiting for Sanji to wake up a little more. “This is probably a ransom attempt.”

                “What?” asked Sanji.

                “Well, they figured out we were pirates, and we both have wanted posters. Maybe they figure they can get a ransom out of Luffy and the others. Not that we have any money to give them, right?” She lifted her head again to see Sanji was staring at her. She sighed. “If it was a matter of just killing us, why bother using tranquilizer guns or holding us here? We’d be dead if they wanted us dead. If they wanted to find out why we’re here they would have tried asking me by now. That pretty much leaves ransom.”

                Sanji sighed. “Well, I know what Luffy will give him if this is a ransom,” he said.

                Nami grinned, sensing she knew the answer. “What’s that?”  
                “Seven pissed off pirates.”

                “That’s my guess, too.”

                “Wonder if these guys will like it?”  
                “Probably not.”

                Silence.

                Sanji tried to break out of the restraints. “They won’t come loose,” he said.

                “It’s seastone, Sanji – it won’t work. You know how strong that stuff is.”  
                The cook shook his head. “The chairs aren’t seastone - I just need to break them.”

                “They still look pretty solid, Sanji-kun . . . I don’t think it’ll work.”

                The door to their prison opened and in walked a blonde woman in a lab coat (whom Sanji wasted no time in making eyes at – she had a very pleasing figure and a very cute face) and a tall, bald man with a thick black goatee in a similar lab coat. They were joined by more men with lab coats. The bald man looked them over and nodded. He was analyzing them in the same way Sanji looked at meat in the market, which made the chef’s skin crawl.

                The bald man nodded. “So, I’ve been told the two of you tried to take my research grant.”

                “Research grant?” Nami asked. “I thought you were pirates!”

                “Well, sometimes it takes a little persuasion to receive the appropriate funds from our sponsors. Most other scientists use long, formal, boring extensions of the phrase ‘please give us money’ but I’ve found that canon fire is much more efficient,” he said with a chuckle as he bent down in front of them. “That is why we are pirates, but we are conducting very important research here to further the exploration of the sciences. It’s very important work we’re doing.”

                “I’m sure,” Sanji said dryly. “If you haven’t been living under a rock for the last few months you’ve probably heard of Monkey D. Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates. Nami-san and I are part of that crew, and our captain doesn’t like it when people mess his men and women. Do yourself a favor and let us go now and we’ll go back to our captain, not say anything about what happened, and you’ll get to see whether or not the sun rises tomorrow.”

                Nami nodded. She grinned at the bald man – presumably the captain, and tried to look her best. She waved her shoulders back and forth and gave him a seductive little pout. “You wouldn’t want to do anything to hurt little old me, would you? Because Sanji-kun is right – Luffy isn’t going to like this. So how about letting us go without asking for a ransom? How’s that sound?”

                “I have no intention of asking your captain for a ransom.”

                Sanji and Nami exchanged a confused look. “No ransom?” they said in unison.

                The blonde woman was busily scribbling notes. “Captain Tesla, labels?”

                The cook felt a twinge of recognition. He’d heard that name before. Maybe Zeff had said something about this guy? He closed his eyes, trying to remember. He was positive the old geezer had heard of this guy. But what was so important about him? His palms began to sweat, and he had a bad feeling about this in his stomach.

                The bald man nodded. “Of course, Curie,” he said. He bent Nami’s head forward and pulled what looked like a pen out of his pocket. Sanji raised an eyebrow at it as Tesla motioned to start writing on the back of her neck. “Subject  number 0543,” he said slowly, pulling the pen away when he was done. He took the two steps next to Sanji and forced his head forward as well and began writing on the back of his neck. “Subject number 0544.”

                “What the hell is all this – ARGHHH!!!” Nami lurched forward, screaming as a hissing sound came from the back of her neck. Something – whatever was in that pen – was burning into the back of her neck. It hurt worse than getting Arlong’s mark tattooed on her arm, and possibly as bad as getting her foot impaled on Miss Double Finger. She gripped the armrests, fighting tears and wondering what the hell that man had done to her.

                “NAMI-SAN!” Sanji screamed her name until he felt a searing, burning sensation in the back of his own neck. He gritted his teeth and tried to resist screaming, but he still ended up crying out as whatever it was that was in that pen started to eat away at the flesh on his neck. The pain was terrible and he only just resisted the urge to hurl.

                “Tattoo needles are messy and take too long. This pen is all I need to mark my experiment subjects,” Tesla said casually. He smiled pleasantly and clasped his hands in front of him, much in a way men shouldn’t do after they just casually put two people through pain. “Of course the end result isn’t quite as neat as a tattoo but it’s clear enough to read that my men and I have never had a problem with this method.”

                Sanji’s eyes widened. Research grant. EXPERIMENTS. _SHIT._

Tesla was a pirate who liked to run science experiments: ON OTHER PIRATES.

                _“If you ever get wind that Thomas Tesla is near, once you become a pirate, don’t risk it, Eggplant. No matter how strong you think you are, it isn’t worth the chance that somehow he’ll find a way to capture you. I don’t know if he’s still out there or what he’s researching if he is, but he does the cruelest things to other pirates in the name of what he calls ‘science’. Do you understand, Eggplant?”_

_“Yeah, yeah, whatever, old man. I won’t be dumb enough to let him catch me.”_

_“I mean it – there are many dangers on the Grand Line and this is one of them. You don’t know what he would do to you. Now, listen here, Sanji. Most of the cooks here see you as a useless, horny brat who can’t cook and drives away our customers because of your temper or that crazy code of chivalry you claim to follow.”_

_“So what?”_

_“At least they see you as a person. Tesla would barely recognize you as a thing.”_

_“Come on, we both know I can take most of the morons who walk into this place.”_

                Sanji struggled against his restraints. It was time to leave. NOW.

                “Experiments?!” Nami screamed, starting to struggle more against the bindings of her chair. “LET US GO! I DON’T WANT TO BE AN EXPERIMENT!” Sanji turned his head and watched her struggle helplessly and clenched his fists. He hated seeing her in pain, and he agreed with her sentiments – he didn’t want to be a lab rat, either. She looked at him, biting her bottom lip. He reached out with his hand as far as he could. When that failed, he tried the same with his foot. Nami returned the gesture.

                Sanji watched as two more men in lab coats rolled a gurney into the room with a white cloth covering two objects. He swallowed. Whatever those were, he wanted no part of them. They would only lead to terrible things later. He struggled, too, but they were fighting against seastone. They weren’t Devil Fruit users, but the stuff was still ludicrously strong and did its job of holding them down.

                Tesla and Curie were busily writing down further notes, observing their two prisoners as the pain from the tattoo pen finally ceased. “Good, you seem to be more relaxed than you were,” said Curie, never looking up from her clipboard as she spoke. “We wouldn’t want you choking during the first leg of the experiment.” 

                “Choke?” Nami said as one of the other lab coat clad pirates removed the white sheet, revealing two Devil Fruits. One of them looked like a grape-fruit sized blue strawberry bearing the distinctive Devil Fruit swirls, and the other looked more like a star fruit, only red. Nami shrank back in her chair, whimpering and keeping her mouth shut.

                “No fucking way,” Sanji said, snarling and glaring at Tesla. He kept Nami in the corner of his eye, but now he was VERY pissed off at this scientist. “There’s only one Devil Fruit I’d be willing to eat and it’s already been eaten by some shitty guy with a lion’s face. The answer is NO. Whatever the hell those fruits are we are NOT eating them!”

                “Please open 0543’s mouth. Please prepare Fruit A for consumption,” Tesla said, ignoring Sanji’s protests. Nami made a frightened squealing sound, beginning to kick as she tried to shrink away from the scientist’s hands and tried her hardest to keep her mouth shut. Sanji opened his mouth to yell her name, but thought better of it – opening his mouth in this situation was not a good idea.

                Nami’s eyes met his. She understood and gave him a little nod.

                Sanji watched helplessly as Nami’s mouth was finally forced open by a latex hand and she screamed and she began to kick even more furiously. Another pair of gloves grabbed the blue strawberry and forced the pointy end into her mouth as tears began to pour down her face. Sanji felt his heart breaking for her, only half-listening as Tesla asked someone to open Subject 0544’s mouth and prepare Fruit B for consumption.

                Of course Sanji was a little bit stronger than Nami and resisted a bit better. Even at the odd angles, he was able to get a couple of good shots to their shins and when one of the scientists got his hand too close to his mouth, Sanji bit. The scientist yowled in pain, but the skin of his hand hadn’t been broken. Really, it had been a warning shot.

                The scientist backed away as well, just in time for Sanji to see Nami’s jaw close around the fruit.

                A scientist held Nami’s jaw closed as another held her nose shut and said she could breathe again after she swallowed ‘like a good girl’. Barely making a nodding motion, Sanji watched as her throat swelled and relaxed as the fruit was swallowed. His eyes followed where he guessed the bit of fruit might be, ending at her stomach, where he imagined it had already begun to change her.

                “Nami-san,” he said as the scientists backed away and she leaned forward in her chair, coughing and gagging and crying. She was trying to throw it up, but Sanji was positive that wouldn’t matter at this point, even if she could. He wanted to reach out to her, make her know that he was going to find a way to kill those bastards and-

                Sanji had been distracted long enough for the scientist he’d bitten to enlist help from the ones who had fed Nami to restrain the cook – they were going to try again. He was ready to take a finger off one of them when he noticed Tesla casually holding a gun to Nami’s head. She looked drained and wasn’t fighting back. “I would reconsider trying to bite another one of my scientists. Do we have an understanding, 0544?”

                “My name is Sanji,” Sanji growled.

                “Do we have an understanding, 0544?” Tesla repeated.

                Nami looked at him, whimpering.

            Sanji closed his eyes and sighed. There wasn’t a way out. And he couldn’t let Nami die while he struggled against these stupid scientists. He’d figure out how to get them away later and they’d deal with their new abilities when they got back to the ship and the rest of the crew. “Give me the damn fruit.”

                It seemed as though the other scientists were willing to accept that he had calmed down, but they were still pretty rough as they shoved the red, swirling star fruit into his mouth. He willingly bit down, chewed, and swallowed, fighting the nausea that ran over him. It tasted horrible, quite possibly the worst tasting food he’d ever eaten in his life.

                Sanji felt too sick to his stomach to decide whether or not he should finish the fruit. Shitty tasting food or not, it was still food and he wouldn’t have it wasted. Right? But the seastone started to take effect and he felt weak and tired. He couldn’t protest as the fruit was wheeled away to who knew where.

                As a seastone collar was strapped around his neck, Sanji stole a glance at Nami. She was crying now as she was released from the chair, but obviously too weak to do anything. He, too, was unstrapped but, even though he was basically unrestrained, he just couldn’t muster up the strength to kick any of them.

                The scientists began to escort them somewhere. Sanji found the strength to hold Nami’s hand.

                She squeezed back.


	3. 02

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sanji and Nami spend their first night on the ship in a holding cell.

                Tesla and Curie, for reasons known only to the scientists, seemed unwilling to begin experimentation right away, although both of them were given a series of shots they were unable to resist. As such, they were transferred to a holding cell to wait for the next day. The door was closed and after that they only heard the sound of keys locking it, and then footsteps walking away.

                Nami struggled to her feet, feeling woozy from the seastone, or maybe whatever was in the shot they gave her. Sanji had passed out en route to the holding cell, where he was dumped onto a bench with a pillow and nothing else. She had been placed on a bench opposite him, also bearing only a pillow. But now she was standing, her head spinning.

                _Sedative_ , she thought to herself.

                She staggered towards the door, wondering if it was possible to get it open.  Once there, Nami knelt in front of it and ran her hands along the edge. There was no lock on the inside of the cell (which, when she thought about it, made a lot of sense). Thinking she could get to the latch, she found the door had been designed to extend over the wall, making access to the door frame impossible. “Sons of bitches,” she swore, hanging her head. She banged her fist into the door, followed shortly by a quiet thud as her forehead hit the cool metal. “Ow.”

                It was barely ten steps to the door, but Nami felt wiped. Her energy was completely gone. Was it the shots? Or was it the seastone? She reached up to grasp the collar around her neck – touching it with her hand made her feel even more tired. She shorted. “Now I know why Luffy gets so tired when he’s near this stuff – it’s exhausting.”

                Defeated (but mostly just too tired to keep trying) for the moment, Nami crawled back to the bench and struggled to pull herself onto it. She turned to the still unconscious Sanji and shook her head. “Once we get out of here, I’m stealing everything that isn’t tied down. I don’t care if it's the gum they spit in the trash – they aren’t keeping it.”

                Sanji didn’t move. He was sound asleep.

                _Probably from the tranquilizers from earlier –guess he wasn’t able to pull himself completely out of it,_ she mused to herself. _If I wanted to eat a Devil Fruit, I would have. I would have chosen it carefully. Like something that lets me walk through walls – you know, useful! But who the hell knows what they fed me – and you – and then they started sticking us with needles and burning the backs of our necks? I don’t know about you but I’m PISSSED._

                Nami mustered up a little more willpower to look around the room. It was a small room, with the benches directly across from each other – Nami realized these benches were their “beds”. Turning her eyes to the wall opposite the door, she saw a metal toilet, a hanging roll of toilet paper, and a metal sink with a bar on soap on the surface.

                Nami sighed. She closed her eyes and put her hands over her stomach. The piece of Devil Fruit she’d eaten, she guessed, was still in her stomach. Her stomach had calmed down considerably and the foul taste had gone away, but it didn’t matter. She’d never swim again. She had some strange, bizarre power in its stead.

                Nami wondered what her new ability was, but for some reason – either the seastone or the drugs – she couldn’t quite place it. _It’s like it’s on the tip of my tongue. I feel like I can do something but I just can’t figure it out._ She put her hands on her head. _It’s probably because we’ve been close to seastone the entire time._ She looked up at the ceiling. _I wonder if it’ll affect our ability to use them when we get out of here?_

               The lights dimmed. She blinked. Was it bedtime? Nami closed her eyes, unable to find the strength to open them again. She would sleep for now. She didn’t have the strength to stay up anymore – whatever sedatives they gave her were winning. Fine. Let them take this battle, she was too tired to care at that moment. All Nami wanted in that moment was to sleep.

                She wondered if she would dream about Bellemere.

 

                Tesla studied the notes from the consumption. Like most of their previous subjects, 0543 and 0544 had resisted consumption, though 0544 had been a bit more violent in his rejection until 0543 was threatened. They were going to need to keep an eye on that one and watch for future misbehavior. 0543 was also displaying poor behavior, but didn’t pose as much of a threat as her crewmate.

                Still, it seemed Round 22 of the 05 Series was off to a good start. With the unfortunate passing of 0541 and 0542 the previous month his research had been stalled yet again, and it was time to start anew – again. At the very least, however, he knew from the previous twenty-one attempts what not to do, and perhaps this time things would be different.

                Some of his lab techs had brought him their wanted posters – neither was a captain, but both of them had higher bounties than he did – in particular 0544 and his 77 million berry head. “Black Leg Sanji” was what they called him and his picture, though correctly identifying his prominent facial features, was also rife with inaccuracies – proportions, shapes, and color were off by an inexcusable margin. As for 0543, “Cat Burglar Nami” was a much more modest 16 million head with a far less modest picture, similar to the photos some of the techs liked to look at in their spare time.

                The captain was the biggest threat of all – 300 million berries for the head of “Straw Hat” Monkey D. Luffy. Tesla raised an eyebrow – wasn’t there a Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp, and wasn’t the infamous revolutionary named Monkey D. Dragon? He wondered briefly if there was a relation – most likely Garp would be no threat, but if the captain sought help from Dragon it was possible the man might comply, if such a relationship did exist.

                He noted the other members of the crew and their pet (Tesla was baffled – surely it cost them more money to print the poster for the strange creature than they wished to pay out for his head, especially if he arrived deceased) in the event any of them chose to search for their comrades. Ignoring the pet, every last one of them had a bounty at least three times his bounty – Roronoa Zoro qualified for rookie status with his bounty. He would have the posters framed and hung in the mess hall – for tomorrow’s breakfast debriefing he would inform the other researchers of the possible threat to ensure no meddling occurred.

                He didn’t understand why so many captains bothered. It wasn’t as if there was a shortage of hearty men willing to live a life of piracy, and many of them could fill important positions like navigator or cook or whatever. Everyone but his research team could be easily replaced. So whatever positions these two held, if any, it would be very easy for the Straw Hat boy to find someone else who could fill those positions. Even 0544 and his 77 million berry head could be replaced with someone who was just as dangerous if not more so.

                Tesla looked at the clock on the wall. It was late and he had an early morning – they would be running the first battery of tests and he needed to be at his best. It would be unfortunate if they missed some minor detail – a man never knew which details would matter in the long run, after all. All he needed to do was ensure that the paperwork was correctly filed and then he’d be able to retire for the evening.

 

                Nami was sleeping on “her” bench with her back turned to him. Her breathing was slow and regular, and her rest probably came from emotional exhaustion. It had turned into a very long day – especially for her – and it was only the beginning of something else much bigger. Sanji continued to stare at her, wishing he could do something.

                The cook wasn’t sure how long it would be before Luffy and the others caught up, but he imagined he’d be able to hear his captain’s yells echoing through the bowels of this ship soon enough. Someone – probably not Luffy, but maybe Usopp or Robin-chan – would open the door to their cell and get them out of there. Franky would find a way to get these seastone collars off and Chopper would check them both over to make sure they were okay. The swordsman might do something useful, but with his collar off Sanji would be able to show off his new Devil Fruit power and make the green haired idiot look like a fool. And if Luffy hadn’t already destroyed that Tesla man, Sanji would take him out personally.

                The man deserved that much. He’d burned the backs of their necks and forced them to do something that, regardless of how long it took to get out, would change their lives drastically. Thanks to this numb-nutted scientist they would only have three people on the crew who could swim for six Devil Fruit ability users – they might need to find more recruits just to fish people out if they were knocked overboard. And depending on what the fruit was, well, who knew what other things he and Nami-san would need to consider? Luffy didn’t always need to think about using his ability for it to do something, unlike Robin-chan’s ability or even Chopper’s ability. Brook was a walking example of what a Devil Fruit could do to a person full time.

                Sanji sighed, turning over to try and get comfortable. He really wanted to know what his new power was – if he was going to have one, it might as well be something useful. With the way his luck had been running these past several weeks, though, he might have ended up with something stupid and lame, like a fruit that turned him into marshmallows or made women hate him. Yes, that would be his luck – a Devil Fruit that repelled women.

                He rolled his eyes. It had been months since his last fling (shortly before he met Luffy) and since joining the Straw Hat crew he hadn’t had much success with the ladies. Oh certainly he had made friends with several females (Nami-san and Robin-chan especially) and even had fun flirting with the girls on Whiskey Peak (even if Nami and the idiot insisted they were trying to kill him – so what, he wouldn’t have minded dying in the middle of a 21-way) but he hadn’t gotten anywhere with a girl in quite a while.

                But now really wasn’t the time to be worrying about that. Regardless of what his fruit did or did not do Tesla had plans to do SOMETHING to him and Nami-san. Something . . . science-y, he guessed. Sanji really wasn’t a man of science (although he understood that cooking was a very specialized form of chemistry) so he wasn’t exactly sure what they would be doing to them.

                The cook closed his eyes, his own exhaustion starting to beckon him to sleep.


	4. 03

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sanji and Nami are given baths and tossed back into the cell, but not before Sanji gives Tesla a piece of his mind.

                Tesla stepped in after one of his assistants opened the door to the holding cell. 0543 and 0544 were sleeping soundly on the benches, unaware that anyone had entered. Of course, they had leaked a mild anesthesia into the room beforehand so he would have been surprised if they had awoken. He gestured his head towards the inside of the cell and several more filtered in.

                “You, check 0543’s vital signs. You, check 0544.”

                One of the scientists lumbered into the room followed by another, where the two proceeded to examine the specimens, taking notes. Blood pressure, heart rate, and temperature were quickly recorded before each was gathered up in their arms to be taken to more proper examination rooms. The first one let 0543 rest her head on his shoulder while 0544 was slung over the second scientist’s shoulder.

                “Vital signs normal, I presume?” asked Tesla.

                “Yes, Captain. Heart rate and blood pressure are within the normal range.”

                “0544’s vitals are also within the normal range, sir, but towards the negative extreme.”

                Tesla nodded. “Most likely because he poisoned his body with those cigarettes.” He sighed. “His body should self-regulate after he’s been off them for a while. Keep a close eye on him and make sure that’s in his file – if anything bad happens to him we’ll know to make sure 0545 and 0546 are non-smokers and continue, but for now act as though he will get better.”

                “Yes, sir.”

                Tesla cleared his throat. “Once they’ve been given full examinations, we’re going to keep them under heavy seastone control – please pass those orders along. I want a complete record of those examinations on my desk when they are done. By then it should be feeding time, and seeing as they were not fed yesterday they may be lacking in proper nutrition. I won’t have a lack of protein ruin this research. Once I’ve had a chance to assess the results we’ll plan accordingly.”

                The assistants nodded and carried off the pair.

 

                When Nami woke up, things had changed considerably.

                For one, she wasn’t in the holding cell anymore. She could still feel the seastone collar around her neck, but she felt otherwise completely naked and exposed – and tired, always tired. Nami turned her head to the side and saw three women in lab coats. One of them was taking notes, another was folding her clothing and putting it into a box marked “0543 – Artifacts”. The third was wearing gloves and putting some kind of soap into a bucket.

                One of the scientists noticed Nami was awake. “Subject 0543 has awoken,” she said. The notetaker scratched this down while the remaining scientist sealed up the box with Nami’s things and walked away. The navigator glared at her back. Those were hers, damn it! Those shoes had been expensive and that shirt was one of a kind! Not to mention they’d already taken Luffy’s Log Pose and the bracelet Nojiko gave her.

                Before she could reach out or complain about that, one of them roughly sat her up, dipped a sponge into the water, and began to wash her. Nami blinked in confusion – they were giving her a bath? She stared at the wall in front of her, dazed and confused. So strange – a bath. Her mind struggled with this – Nami eventually realized she was probably on a sedative or a tranquilizer of some sort to keep her placid and calm, despite her circumstances.

                The bath was rough and Nami whined a little when her skin was rubbed raw. Her whimpers were ignored, only to be followed by a thorough rinsing with cold water. She shuddered – the metal was cold, the water was cold, and now she was cold, too. Her teeth started to chatter as she was dried with a too-thin towel. She was dry now, but she was still freezing.

                One of the others returned with a plain pair of underwear and a large white shirt. She handed them to the one giving her the bath, who began to dress her. Nami considered refusing, but still felt far too weak to try and protest.  Besides, even if the shirt was thin it would be warmer than she was now. Not by much but it would be better than being naked. A pair of cheap, thin flip flops was shoved onto her feet before she was pulled off the table.

                She was going somewhere.

                One of the scientists led the way while the other two each hooked their arms around hers as they left the room. Nami struggled to keep up with their pace. They stopped in front of the holding cell, where the door was opened and she was shoved inside. As she fell unceremoniously to the ground, the leader stepped inside and grabbed her arm, producing a syringe and searching for a vein. Nami bit the inside of her bottom lip, closing her eyes and bracing herself for the sting of the shot.

                Nami was glad she let go of her lip – the needle was thick and hurt a lot. She cried out and felt tears leak out of the corners of her eyes. Normally shots didn’t bother her – if the needle was thin enough it wasn’t much worse than a bee sting or even a mosquito bite (excluding that one bite she’d gotten on Little Garden, and even then it was the aftermath of the bite, not the bite itself, she grew to loathe). This needle was too thick and too long and wasn’t exactly administered with care.

                A white bandage was wrapped around her arm when it was done to stop the bleeding. A man with a lab coat walked in with a tray – there was a plastic cup of water and a bowl of some kind of off-white mush. He laid it on the ground before her and wordlessly walked away past the scientist who had brought her in. Nami looked at her with contempt.

                “Eat. Anything you don’t finish in an hour will be removed,” she said.

                With that, the door was closed and locked.

 

                Sanji was feeling a little indignant at being given a BATH by other men, and it didn’t help that the men bathing him were some of the idiots from yesterday. They were unnecessarily rough with him, harshly shoving him where they needed him to be and rubbing his skin so raw it required bandages in some spots. Tesla, the man in charge, discovered this and reprimanded them sternly. At first Sanji was confused, until the man started to talk about “interfering with test results” and “ruining the validity of their research”.

                It had nothing to do with Sanji’s wellbeing.

                The three berated scientists left the bathing room with their heads bowed, presumably to wait for further discipline, and Sanji decided it was high time he got some answers. “All right, Tesla – what are you doing with us?” he asked, gripping the edges of the table he was seated on. “You fed Nami-san and me Devil Fruits – why?”

                Tesla ignored Sanji’s question, pointing at the folded hospital shirt and boxers next to him.

                “Not until you answer my question.” Sanji was pissed – he’d been fed a Devil Fruit against his will, his clothes were gone, he was being held against his will, and he hadn’t had a cigarette in probably close to twenty-four hours. He could deal with the rest of it easily, but not having a smoke was going to be a problem. He’d tried quitting when he was seventeen to impress a girl who didn’t like cigarettes and all he got from the encounter was a bad taste of withdrawal.

                “I don’t have to.”

                Sanji glared, but continued to refuse the clothing.

                Tesla sighed and cleared his throat. “The moment you and 0543 invaded my ship you became my property. This ship and all of the people on it are my domain. Anyone who crosses into this domain becomes mine. I would suggest doing as you are told – it will make your time left that much more pleasant. I do not like punishing my experimental subjects but I do when I need to.”

                “I think the sooner you let me go the much more ‘pleasant’ our captain will be.”

                Tesla shook his head. “Unlikely. Pirate captains only care about number one – themselves. Your captain may search for you for a little bit, but he’ll give up – they all do – and find replacements. Don’t think you aren’t disposable – there are hundreds of other scumbags like yourself who’ll line up outside of your ship to take your place.”

                “You don’t know Luffy very well, do you?”

  1.                 “Then he’s a fool to think he can find you.”                                                                



                “Damn straight he is – he’s an idiot, but he’s too damn stubborn to give up.”

                Tesla shook his head at Sanji and straightened his glasses. “You are in no position to threaten me. My research will continue, and you and 0543 will help me whether you like it or not. If you must, consider what your lives will do to benefit science. It’s a noble sacrifice, much more noble than whatever thieving and pillaging you were planning on doing.”

                “You’re wrong. Nami is going to draw a map of the world and I’m going to put All Blue on it.”

                Tesla snorted. “All Blue doesn’t exist. If it did someone would have found it by now.”

                Sanji’s eyes widened and he tried to sit up. “All Blue exists! It has to!”

                Tesla glared coldly at Sanji. “You are an imbecile. There is no proof to even SUGGEST that the All Blue MIGHT exist. Men have been exploring for thousands of years – something as large as an entire ocean would have been found by now. With no evidence, you might as well be searching for ghost ships. At least here you will be put to a more practical use.”

                Sanji sensed the argument was useless. He glared at Tesla, going over what he was going to do to the scientist once he got out of the blasted seastone in his head. Never mind this personal indignation, he was hurting Nami, too, and that was worse. For now all he could do was quietly go along as Tesla forced him to get dressed and dragged him out of the room to parts unknown.

 

                The food was terrible, but it was all she’d had since their capture, so there was no sense in turning it down. She guessed Sanji would be given a bowl of it as well once he was returned to the cell. Maybe he could figure out what it was. Nami left the bowl under her bench and curled up on it, facing Sanji’s empty bench.

                It had been about twenty-four hours – a full day. And it had been a pretty crappy evening, morning, and afternoon. She’d been forced to eat a Devil Fruit – which one she STILL didn’t know – and now all of this. Tesla was going to be robbed blind when she finally figured out how to get out of there. Everyone last berry on that ship was going with her.

                More importantly, where the hell was Luffy?

                Okay, so Luffy and the others hadn’t shown up yet. They were probably still chasing Tesla’s boat down – Sunny was fast, but Nami didn’t know how fast this boat was. And given that most of the crew didn’t know anything about navigation (at best, Nami reasoned, Robin or maybe Franky and Brook could get them by if they got another Log Pose) it could be a while.

                She sighed in frustration. Luffy needed to hurry the fuck up. She was glad she wasn’t here alone but it WAS Sanji she was trapped with – it was only a matter of time before the meds wore off and he’d start going off in Love Cook mode about how he was going to save them or something stupid like that. What was going to happen once he realized she was wearing nothing but a shirt barely long enough to cover her butt, a pair of panties, and nothing else? It was probably going to be some kind of weird holiday for him.

                As for the others, well, Luffy, Robin, Chopper, and Brook had already eaten Devil Fruits so there was one less thing for Tesla to do. Brook would have been an inconveinience with his panty fetish, but he might have some kind of old pirate trick to help them get out. Robin might have been a little creepy about the whole thing, but she was basically Nami’s best friend and having her around would be great. Chopper would have likely panicked, but he was a smart little reindeer. If she’d been with Luffy, it would have never gotten this far. Sure he was an idiot and she would have had to explain to him the ship was leaving but he would have gotten the job done.

                As for everyone else, it was a mixed bag, and they would have been force fed fruits if it got this far as well. At least Usopp would have tried to help her out of this and provide intelligent conversation while they worked, even if half of it was Classic Usopp Bullshit. Sanji wouldn’t like the comparison, but Zoro was a taller, stockier man – he may have been able to resist the tranquilizers better and get them off the boat. Franky was largely metal – that might have stopped the tranquilizers all together, and being a cyborg probably had some kind of advantage.

                Nami turned away from his bench. She wasn’t sure she wanted to deal with him.

 

                Sanji was shoved into the cell with a plate of mush and a plastic cup of water. Nami was already in the cell, dressed similarly and sleeping on her bench. He frowned. He had to get them out of there. Granted, he needed to find the energy to do that, but for the moment he was hungry and, even if it was all around unappetizing food, it was still something he could eat.

                And maybe that would get his mind off the urge to smoke.

                _Ha. Fat chance, Sanji._

                Sanji hadn’t been given any utensils, so he took the bowl to his mouth and took a mouthful that way. He swallowed. It was fairly lacking in flavor, but he was fairly certain it was a mix of chicken, rice, and cauliflower. Everything tasted over-boiled, and there was a weird taste that he guessed might have been some kind of powdered vitamin.

                Well, that was a good sign – it meant Tesla wanted them around long enough that he was at least trying to keep their diets balanced. It was unexciting and barely meeting the minimum requirements for survival, but it was something that, technically, they could survive on, and there was a time in his life that he would have killed for something like what he was eating now.

                _Just because I don’t waste food doesn’t mean I don’t prefer it to be tasty._

He washed it down with the water, which was lukewarm and not all that refreshing. He wondered if this was going to be what they would be eating every day. He wondered if there was anything else in the food that was a part of Tesla’s great “experiment”. Sanji swallowed, committing himself to every morsel of this mixture.

                When the bowl had been licked clean and he no longer had that to focus on, Sanji crawled onto his bench and curled himself in a ball. He felt twitchy and cranky and all around not good. The withdrawal was going to be a real bitch. With his habit he’d be lucky if his withdrawal lasted a week. And it wasn’t even like he could distract himself with a book or something – the only other thing in the room was Nami and he didn’t want to disturb her.

                Strange. He really didn’t feel like talking with her.

                _Withdrawal, idiot. You might snap at her if you try and you can’t snap at Nami-san._

Sanji sighed and tried to get some sleep.

 

 

**_What’s this?_ **

****

**_Why are you so upset?_ **

****

**_Why is this man hurting you?_ **

****

**_Stop it._ **

****

**_Leave them alone._ **

 


	5. 04

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sanji and Nami talk for the first time since their capture.

                The first week was mostly uneventful. For the most part they slept off the drugs they were being given (which staved off Sanji’s cigarette withdrawal – he wasn’t awake for most of it), ate when they were given food, and accepted baths when they were given – about one every other day. Time was measured by when they got meals – three a day, with breakfast being a plain rice porridge, lunch some kind of mashed vegetable dish, and dinner being the boiled chicken, rice, and cauliflower mash – and when the lights were turned on and off.

                They didn’t talk much. Nami kept her back to Sanji most of the time, even when she was awake. Sometimes it was because she wanted to sleep, sometimes because she simply didn’t want to deal with him. There was a lot she needed to sort out for herself and until she had it sorted out, she could barely look at him.

                On the one hand, it could be Sanji’s fault. He had gone with her to protect her and, well, that had failed pretty miserably. His getting hit with the tranquilizers had ultimately led to their capture and now there was little they could do to try and get out. Black Leg Sanji was one of the strongest of the Straw Hat Pirates and he hadn’t lived up to that reputation. She wondered if Zoro, with his high alcohol tolerance and overall larger body mass, would have resisted the tranquilizers but even if she determined it WAS Sanji’s fault she didn’t DARE suggest that the swordsman would have done a better job.

                On the other hand, Nami felt like this might have been her fault. It should have been too obvious a trap – something she should have been able to pick out after spending eight years of her life robbing pirate ships. Of course this was a set up! But her greed had gotten the better of her, and despite his street smarts she didn’t think Sanji would know to be weary of it so that call fell entirely on her shoulders. She should have picked a better target.

                She couldn’t face Sanji because she wasn’t sure if she needed to yell or apologize.

                “I’m sorry.”

                Nami turned her head, barely looking over her shoulder. She couldn’t see Sanji, so she twisted her body around and saw him sitting up on his bench, looking at her with tired, sorrow filled eyes. He hung his head. “This is all my fault. I understand why you hate me.” He was wringing his hands together, nervous and fidgety.

                Nami pushed herself up. All the blame she thought she could throw at him she just couldn’t.  He’d tried his hardest to get them out of there. He’d carried her because he thought it would faster. He knew the only escape from that boat was to swim (back when they COULD swim), no matter how crazy it may have seemed.

                It really was not his fault.

                And that could only mean . . .

                “No. It’s my fault, Sanji-kun.”

                Sanji lifted his head and looked at her with wide, horrified eyes. “How can you say that!?” he said. His jaw hung slightly agape at her, unable to fathom the thought that NAMI, his NAMI-SWAN, was to blame for their situation. “I was the one who couldn’t get us away! I got hit by the tranquilizers! Damn it, Nami, the only reason I was even here in the first place was to make sure you didn’t get hurt and look how well that worked out!”

                “I was the one who picked out the ship. Maybe I should have seen it was a trap.”

                The cook bit his bottom lip, closed his eyes, and shook his head. “Then maybe it isn’t either of our faults, Nami-san.” He laid down, his eyes starting to close. “Who’s to say picking a different ship would have been better? And if I had gotten us away, we would have had a long way to swim. I think we’re both victims of really shitty luck.”

                Nami almost smiled. “I guess so, huh?”

                “I don’t blame you, Nami-san.”

                “I don’t blame you either, Sanji-kun.”

                They sat in silence for several minutes.

                “How are you holding up?” Sanji asked, breaking the silence.

                The navigator shrugged. “Sleeping, mostly. Same as what you’ve been doing. It’s not what I want to be doing but at least it’s making the time go by until Luffy gets here.” She crossed her legs and leaned back, propping herself up with the palms of her hands. “Chopper will probably have us stay in the infirmary for a little bit, too. Just to be safe.”

                “After he calls for a doctor,” Sanji said with a wry grin.

                Nami stifled a chuckle. “Probably.” She closed her eyes and sighed. “And you?”  
                “Hmm?”

                “How are you holding up?”

                “The sleeping’s made it bearable,” he said. Sanji cleared his throat. “Withdrawal, that is.” He sighed. “If it weren’t for whatever else they’ve got us on and the seastone it would have been the longest week of my life,” Sanji said dryly. He shrugged. “It’s possible they’re giving me something extra – withdrawal can be pretty nasty and they want to keep us alive for a while. That powdery taste in the food might be vitamin powder.”

                “So?”

                “If it isn’t vitamin powder we’ll get sick really quickly.”

                Nami sat up. “Malnutrition.”

                “Right.” Sanji crossed his legs on the bench. “Zeff told me about Tesla once.” Nami looked at him with interest, waiting to hear what the old man had said. “Tesla’s been at this for years it sounds like. I thought about it right before they fed us the Devil Fruits.” He lowered his eyes. “What the old man said about him was true. This asshole isn’t going to treat us like people. No bargaining, no anything. We’re things to him, Nami-san.”

                “Animals in a cage,” she said. Nami stood and walked over to Sanji, putting her hands on his shoulders. The cook looked up at her, and she mustered a smile for him. “But only until Luffy gets here. Right now we just have to wait it out. We can do that. The people in my village waited eight years for their freedom – there’s no way it’ll take Luffy anywhere near that long to come find us!”

                Sanji closed his eyes, thought about it, and returned the smile. “Yeah. You’re right.” He stood up  and at gestured Nami for a hug. She looked at him hesitantly, shuffling from foot to foot before finally closing the space between them, hesitantly moving her arms around Sanji and resting her head against his shoulder.

                “Sanji?”

                “Hn?”  
                “Keep your hands away from my butt.”

                “Oh, right, sorry.”

                “. . . no you’re not.”

                “Just a little.”

                “I will charge you for it when we get back and trust me – you can’t afford it.”

                Sanji laughed nervously and moved his hands away. “Of course not.”

                The holding cell was usually pretty chilly, and even though being in the cold in return made them cold, it felt nice to be held by another person – there was a kind of warmth there. “We’re not alone in this,” she said quietly. Sanji gripped the back of her gown and nodded quietly. “If we’re going to get through this we need to be there for each other.”

                “I’m here for you.”

                “And _I’m_ here for _you_.” She pulled away from him and looked him squarely in the eyes. “We don’t know what Tesla wants to do with us, but it’s going to be ugly. It’s going to suck a lot. It might hurt or worse.” She moved her hands down his arms and gripped his hand. “You are going to support me and I’m going to support you.”

                Sanji wanted to tell her he was going to be okay, but he knew, deep down, she was right. He nodded. “Right. Of course I’ll be there for you,” he said. He squeezed her hands back. “We can do this. We’ve probably done harder things – right?” Nami slowly nodded. “We just . . . have to wait for Luffy and the others. And figure out what to do when they find us.”

                “Luffy won’t abandon us – you don’t think?”  
                “Hell no – he spent too much time and energy getting us to join his crew and stay in his crew to let us leave. Besides, he’s gone at least a week at this point without a pot roast – that ALONE is enough to get him pissed. On top of everything else? Tesla’s a dead man walking. Zoro and the others might get a chance to fight the lifeless bloody mass of bones and flesh Luffy leaves behind,” said Sanji.

                Nami shuddered. “Ew.” She sighed. “But . . . yeah. Something like that’ll happen.”

                Yes. No one messed with one of the Straw Hat Pirates and got away without answering to Luffy.


	6. 05

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sanji and Nami finally find out what their Devil Fruit abilities are.

                The next day, Nami woke up in a room that definitely wasn’t the holding cell.

                She looked around, blinking in confusion. She couldn’t remember being moved from the cell, though that had happened when she’d been given her first bath there. It was probably the sedatives that let them move her without her knowledge. It was a terrifying idea, not knowing what they were doing to her when she was unconscious.

                The room she was in was plain – only bare white walls and a long window defined it. Several soft, squishy balls were scattered around the room. On the other side of the window several scientists were bustling about in the adjacent room, taking notes and conferring with each other over something. Nami swallowed. What did they want from her now? _Obviously the shots aren’t enough anymore. What are they going to test this time?_

                Nami looked down – she was naked. Normally that didn’t bother her, but being in this place made her feel vulnerable, and she crossed her arms over her chest and curled her knees up to her stomach. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to try and calm down. Panicking wouldn’t help – she just had to be patient.

                Luffy was going to arrive any day now.

                It was about then that Nami noticed she wasn’t wearing her seastone collar anymore. She felt her neck – it was a little raw, but the restraint was completely gone. _Why did they take it away all of a sudden?_ She looked to the single door in the room – it was probably locked, but depending on her power, that would be irrelevant.

                That was when she realized she KNEW what her power was.

                More importantly, she realized, she was starting to use it right then and there.

 

                Sanji wasn’t sure what to make of this room. It wasn’t the holding cell, Nami wasn’t there, he was naked, and even the seastone was gone. The room was bare, with only a long mirror that he suspected was one of those “fake” mirrors that was really a window, and there were several objects in the room with him: foam balls were scattered all over the room.

                Sanji picked one up, squeezed it (it made a squeaky toy sound), and threw it at the mirror.

                “I’m not your dog!” he yelled. He stood, stomped over to the mirror, and slammed his hands onto the glass. “I’m not an animal! If this is some kind of sick joke I am not amused!” Sanji snarled at his reflection, only to notice something in the reflection. He froze, not sure what he was seeing. He watched his expression fade from anger to awe, and he slowly turned around.

                Several of the balls were floating.

 

                Nami was mesmerized as her body changed shape and size. She grew taller, stronger. Her muscles tightened and strengthened with no effort. She whined a little as she felt her bones shuffling around, but somehow didn’t hurt. She tried to take a few steps and fell to the floor, not used to the strange new shape her body was taking.

                She sprouted a tail.

                The tail grew longer from the base of her spine, and felt as if it had always been there – she could control it just as well as she could any of her limbs. It was long and slender, but too thick to belong to a mouse or a rat. Her head began to change shape, her skull stretching and squashing as her features shifted and the bones elongated. Nami felt her ears begin to migrate towards the top of her head, changing shape and growing fur as the process continued. She ran her tongue over her teeth and realized that most of them were now fangs and canines.

                Nami saw her arms sprout orange fur with black stripes, followed quickly by her legs and her tail. Her stomach and chest sprouted a lighter colored fur, and her ears rounded in response. She fell forward – catlike – onto her hands (or were they paws now?) and feet, the transformation from woman to animal now complete.

                Cat Cat Fruit: Model Tiger.

                Standing now meant being on all fours, her tail – oh God she had a tail – twitching behind her. She looked at the window where the scientists were observing her. She cried out – her voice still sounded human. She collapsed onto the floor. She didn’t WANT to be a tiger. She didn’t WANT to have a Devil Fruit. She wanted to be human again – that was all she wanted!

                She started to cry, this time letting out a roar. Internally, she shrieked. Nami was terrified – she tried to back into a corner. She didn’t want anyone to see her like this. She wanted Luffy to find them right now and let her go back to her little room on the Sunny so she could try and forget about this and maybe figure out a way to “cure” being an ability user so she could just go back to the way she was before.

                She howled.

 

                Sanji turned to look at the balls in amazement. “How the hell are they doing that?” He let his jaw hang slack, crossing his arms as he observed them. They seemed to move up and down a little with each breath he took. He sat down, and the balls moved down with him. His eyes lit up in realization as he finally understand what the balls were doing.

                At least these shitty scientists had given him an interesting power.

                But why were the balls floating without him thinking about it? Sanji bit his bottom lip in concentration, trying to force himself to stop levitating the two balls. They dropped, but still seemed to be shaking with power. Sanji scanned the room for an answer, soon enough seeing a pipe coming into the room he had missed before.

                _What is THAT?_ Sanji tried not to focus in on it – he wasn’t sure if letting the scientists know he knew about the pipe was a good idea. The pipe was coming out of a corner on the ceiling, whereas the other seven corners in the room were smoothed over. He narrowed his eyes – it may have been feeding something into the room that forced Devil Fruit users to use their abilities unwillingly.

                The balls that were floating were slammed into the mirror. He glared at the window, flipped the scientists he knew were watching him off, and looked away. He didn’t care if they didn’t like his attitude – chances were they didn’t care how much he liked or dislike what they were doing. It wouldn’t stop them from doing it in the long run.

                He hoped Nami was all right . . .

 

                That evening, Nami and Sanji demonstrated their abilities for each other. Sanji had to improve with a bar of soap from their sink, several wadded up balls of toilet paper, and himself (though that only lasted a couple of seconds and was barely a few centimeters off the ground) to use his considering the lack of objects in their room. Nami was a little shaky moving between her three forms and Sanji had the fine motor skills of Luffy’s Third Gear, but they quickly had the basics down.

                “Something’s not right,” Nami said, sitting on her bench and looking at her hands. Sanji was lying down on his, his hands behind his head and his eyes on the ceiling. “Wouldn’t it make more sense for Tesla to have given us . . . weaker power?” The cook turned his head to look at her. “I’m a tiger – those are big cats! With big claws and fangs! And you can lift things with your brain!”

                “And?” Sanji asked.

                “We can fight back – can’t we?” she said. “I mean, I don’t know a lot about hand to hand combat but I probably have claws – if I just tried to whack someone I’d scratch them, right?” She made a pawing motion with her hand, trying to demonstrate. Sanji closed his eyes, taking a few moments to think about it before shaking his head.

                “Well, it could be one of two things,” he said.

                “Oh?” Nami said, skepticism dripping from her tongue.

                “Devil Fruits are hard to come by. Maybe these were the only ones he could find.” He opened his eyes, a sad, sullen look in his eyes. “Or Tesla is so confident in the security on his ship that he thinks it doesn’t matter what Devil Fruits he fed us.” He turned his head to face her a little. “They use a lot of seastone restraints. He’s prepared to hold Devil Fruit users.”

                “Then he obviously hasn’t met Luffy.”  
                “He doesn’t think Luffy’s a threat,” said Sanji. “He thinks Luffy is going to abandon us, find a new navigator and a new cook, and move on.” He shifted a little. “In his mind it doesn’t matter what we can do.”  He sighed. “I just hope he’s underestimating Luffy and the others. Better yet, maybe he’s underestimating us.”

                “So you’re suggesting we use the powers to try and make a break for it?”

                “What choice do we have? I have no intention of staying here if I can find a way out.” Sanji winked at Nami and grinned. “And of course you’ll be coming with me, Nami-san. How could I possibly leave you behind?” Nami rolled her eyes – Sanji was still Sanji, for better or for worse. And even if it was his dopey love cook attitude it was SOMETHING familiar.

                Still, he had a point. It wouldn’t be fair to either of them to leave the other behind if a chance at escape arose. At the very least they had each other to lean on at night – if only one of them escaped, the other would be even worse off than before. “Same,” said Nami. She stood and padded over to Sanji, sitting on the floor by his head. She smiled weakly. “I can’t leave without you.”

                “Nami-san . . .”

                She narrowed her eyes and held up a finger. “We’re in this TOGETHER. Don’t think you need to play big macho sacrifice man with me. Not here,” said Nami. She rested her hands on the bench and her chin on her hands. “Sanji-kun, look at it this way – do you want me to feel guilty over your fate for the rest of my life if I found an escape and I couldn’t get you out of here?”

                Sanji thought about it. She had a good point. Causing a woman emotional pain (other than the hundreds, no THOUSANDS of hearts he would break should he settle down with one woman?)? No, that wasn’t in his character. He nodded, closing his eyes. Nami-san knew him far too well – she’d found the exact thing to say to ensure that he would do everything to keep both of them alive, except for laying his life on the line.

                Besides, if he died who would guarantee she successfully completed the rest of the escape?

                Nami extended a hand. “Shake on it.”

                Sanji gave her his hand without a second thought. “Deal.”

                “I mean it. No sacrifice bullshit.”

                “No sacrifice bullshit. I promise.”

                Nami rested her head on her hands. “Good.”

 

                Tesla sighed, reading over the observation reports. He turned to Curie, who straightened her glasses. “Is that it?” he said. Curie nodded, and he sighed, rubbing his temples. “Continue their daily regimen. At least 0543 and 0544 are still alive: most of the other specimens died by this phase in the experiment.”

                “Of course, sir. Shall I change any of their dosages?”

                Tesla closed his eyes and drummed his fingers together. He shook his head. “No, not yet. I’d rather not waste our efforts with an overdose of anything. If nothing changes in the next month try adding another ounce of Quinzine. If that fails, remove the extra ounce of that and replace it with Byrozine. If that doesn’t work we’ll have a meeting and see where that takes us.”

                Curie nodded and left his office. They were going to get their results one way or another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sanji’s abilities come from the Tele Tele Fruit, or the Tere Tere no Mi (essentially telekinesis), and Nami has obviously gotten something from the Neko Neko no Mi: Model Tiger. 
> 
> A note on Sanji’s powers: Yes, at first I thought that Gold Lion Shiki was going to Joss this power, too, it seems I’ve lucked out TWICE on similar Devil Fruit powers between the DFs I come up with for Fanfics and what Oda comes up with. One of the key differences is that Sanji CAN lift living things, but he isn't able to lift as much (only about what he'd be able to lift with his own strength - granted, this is a lot considering it's Sanji we're talking about, but he won't be able to lift, like, an entire fleet of ships or something).


	7. 06

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Testing begins. Sanji has a nightmare.

                The formal “testing” began the next day.

                They were given breakfast like normal, but this time they, too, were collected alongside their breakfast plates. The baths were not a surprise (although unlike the first time the scientists were a little gentler, but only enough so that they were not bruising), but everything else was a break from the routine of the previous week.

                Nami found herself being strapped to a table with seastone restraints. Once the scientists deemed she was “secure” (although seeing as it was seastone they didn’t need to be terribly secure to keep her down), one of the scientists began taking down her vitals. “Blood pressure, heart rate, and temperature are slightly elevated. However, 0543 may be nervous.”

                “It’s normal for lab animals to be nervous when they’re someplace new and foreign.”

                The navigator wanted to sneer. She was NOT a lab animal.

                “Someone get the blood sample before we begin the medication.”

                One of the scientists lifted her arm off the table and tied a piece of latex tightly around her arm. He waited several minutes, patted her arm with a strong smelling antiseptic, had someone hold her arm down, and inserted the needle of an empty syringe into her arm. Nami’s eyes widened in discomfort and pain as she gripped the table and watched as the barrel filled with her own crimson blood. Once it was full, the scientists placed a crude gauze and medical tape bandage over the puncture.

                That scientist left and another scientist stepped up, this time with a syringe full of something. “Shot number one,” he said, cleaning another spot on her arm. Nami whimpered. “Shut up, lab rat,” he muttered. “Hold her still again – we’ve got a lot more of these to go and Dr. Tesla will be mad if we get off schedule.”

                This scientist was less gentle (not that the first one had been – at least, not for her sake) and was content to roughly stab the cleaned spot. She screamed; it had gone in at an odd angle and hurt a lot. The scientist cursed and ripped it out, yelling at her to be quiet. The ripping tore her flesh open and Nami screamed even louder and started to thrash about as blood gushed from the wound. One of the other scientists held her mouth closed, three held her in place, and yet another tried to patch up the torn flesh as the door to the lab opened.

                “What was that screaming?” asked Curie, adjusting her glasses.

                “We’re trying to get the first injection in and we screwed up.”

                “Idiots,” said Curie. She shoved the scientists aside and putting her clipboard down on a nearby table. Nami was twitching in pain, crying from how much it had hurt. Tesla’s right hand woman evaluated the wound, then put a hand over it. “The captain and I are going to need to add shunts if you morons keep destroying the research!”

                Nami felt the bleeding, torn area of her arm begin to heal. She turned her head and saw a white energy emitting from Curie’s hands as her flesh closed itself up again, perfectly healed with no sign of scarring. It was still painful, but not quite as bad as it had before. Her eyes widened. There was only one thing that could possibly mean. “You’ve eaten a Devil Fruit, too,” she said quietly. “Did you . . . did Tesla force you to-”

                Curie slapped her across the face. “Don’t address me!”

                Nami closed her eyes, fighting tears from the stinging on her cheek as Curie repeated the procedure – it still hurt but wasn’t much more than a pinch this time – and berated the scientists for their insolence. She stormed out, announcing she was going to check on 0544 – Sanji-kun – and slammed the door behind her.

                The scientists were bringing what she assumed was the second injection over. Nami squirmed uncomfortably from her position on the table and bit her bottom lip. She closed her eyes and tried to remind herself that Luffy and the others were coming for them soon and this would all be over before she knew it.

                _Luffy . . . please . . ._

 

                Sanji wasn’t terribly afraid of needles, but he didn’t like receiving a round of five sticks, one of them a draw. The final stick was a drip of some sort – an opaque, sickly white liquid that didn’t quite look like milk. He watched the bag sway back and forth from the rocking of the ship, wondering what its contents were.

                Still, at least the scientist administering the shots was wearing a short skirt and had taken off her lab coat. Oh, certainly, he couldn’t stand her for what she was doing to him and Nami, but it didn’t make her any harder on the eyes. Her legs were smooth and long and when she bent over he caught a glimpse of red lace panties.

                His heart rate sped up. So did the beeping from the machine monitoring it.

                That was when she somehow realized he was watching her – she smacked him and cursed at him to behave. Sanji was too stunned to do anything but nod in agreement. She put her lab coat back on and buttoned it up, muttering about the stupid horny pirate she needed to put up with. The other scientists scowled at him, but he really didn’t care.

                Not long after, most of the scientists (including the hot number with the lace panties) left the room. One remained behind, presumably to observe him. He looked bored and half interested. Sanji considered trying to strike up a conversation with him, but recalled Tesla’s reaction to him, and Zeff’s words about the man. Tesla and his scientists were going to view Nami and him as subhuman. Things. Experiments. There was no point in it.

                He stared at the ceiling and started to count the tiles, and eventually drifted off.

 

                **_Sanji woke up in his bunk on the Thousand Sunny. He yawned, put on his shoes, and tried to shake the feeling that he was forgetting something important. He shrugged it off, looked around at where the other men were still sleeping, and headed towards the galley. He needed to make breakfast, after all._**

**_The galley felt big and empty and lonely. Sanji wasn’t sure why – if anything, it was the place on the ship he felt most at home. But now it was cold and looked like it hadn’t been used in a while. He started to gather everything he needed for breakfast. Maybe he’d make bacon, eggs, and North Blue toast – it was one of Nami-san’s favorite breakfasts._ **

**_“I wish Sanji was here.”_ **

**_Sanji looked up – all of his crewmates, except for Nami-san, were sitting at the table._ **

**_“What are you idiots talking about? I’m standing right here,” Sanji spat, about to turn his attention back to finding what he needed for breakfast. They must be playing some kind of a stupid game, or maybe they were all hungover. Had they been drinking last night? Funny, he couldn’t remember.  
                That was probably the telltale sign they HAD been drinking._ **

**_“Do you think we need to start looking for a new cook?” asked Usopp._ **

**_Franky crossed his arms. “Well of course we do. Who else is going to make our meals?”_ **

**_Sanji paused in his search and put his hands on his hips. “Stop being dumbasses. I’m standing RIGHT HERE,” he said. He rolled his eyes in frustration and opened the cabinet where his pots and pans could usually be found. “I swear I will kick all of your asses – except, of course, for the lovely Robin-chwan’s delicate derriere – if you don’t cut it out.” He was about to reach for a pan when he saw what they looked like and promptly screamed._ **

**_They were rusting and rotting and melting._ **

**_“What?!” he asked._ **

**_“Well, on the bright side, that’s one less thing we need to do,” said Robin. “It will be much easier to make Luffy the Pirate King if we don’t have to search for All Blue. And with Navigator-san gone we don’t need to bother with that silly map of the world, either. We can focus on the rest of our goals instead.”_ **

**_“Yeah!” Chopper agreed cheerily. “We can find a cook and a navigator who don’t have any dreams, then they could help us instead!” He laughed. “I bet the cook won’t threaten to make me an emergency meal, too! I don’t want to go sailing around in circles look for stupid oceans or trying to draw stupid maps – it’ll just be out of our way!”_ **

**_Sanji stared at his crew in horror. “Guys . . . what are you talking about?” He started to walk towards them, starting to get frightened. “What are you talking about? Of course we’re going to do those things together – those are our dreams! Mine and Nami-sans! We’re all friends and we’re going to see each other’s dreams through, aren’t we?”_ **

**_“Sanji-kun . . .”_ **

**_Sanji turned around to see a black void where his galley had once been, a series of gloved hands pulling Nami-san in. She disappeared with a yelp into the black. His eyes widened in horror. “NAMI-SAN!” He screamed, then felt a hand grab his ankle and pull him to the ground. Sanji tried to grab onto one of his cabinets to pull away, but his hand kept slipping off until he was pulled far enough that it was no longer in reach. “LUFFY! LUFFY, HELP US!”_ **

                **_Luffy turned to look at Sanji, but his eyes were black voids and his face seemed cold and unfeeling. “But I don’t know where you are. Sorry, Sanji, I can’t help you if I don’t know where you are. Too bad.” He turned back to the others as more gloved hands appeared around him, dragging him into the darkness._**

**_“LUFFY! CAPTAIN! HELP ME! LUFFY!”_ **

 

                Sanji woke up with a start, feeling disoriented and frightened. “What?” he whispered, looking around. Everything around him was confusing – it was sterile, like a doctor’s office, and there was some guy checking something and . . . Sanji closed his eyes, remembering where he was. He let the back of his head hit the table he was strapped to.

                A dream. A nightmare.

                But what scared him the most about it was that it wasn’t that far from the truth.


	8. 07

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sanji and Nami are introduced to the Tank.

                Several hours later, Nami was taken away from the table she’d been strapped to, given seastone handcuffs, and walked down a hallway to another room. This room didn’t look too different from the first room, but there were no tables. Just a really big, see-through tank filled with water – it was about twice the diameter of the hot tub on the Thousand Sunny and seemed to be deeper than the floor. Several scientists were puttering around the room.

                Sanji was sitting in the corner with a pair of seastone handcuffs. Nami was ordered to sit in the corner with him. Sanji looked up to see her, his eyes tired and groggy from the seastone and whatever else they may have done to him. He tilted his head away from her, keeping his eyes on her. It was an invitation – he could see she was tired, too. Nami took Sanji up on his offer and rested her head on his shoulder. Sanji gently leaned his head back towards her. She didn’t protest.

                While resting against Sanji, Nami noted that several scientists had removed their lab coats and revealed slick, black wetsuits – one was setting up an oxygen line. Several others wearing normal pants and shirts under theirs were chatting idly by several pieces of medical equipment. A pit was forming in her stomach. What, exactly, was all this adding up to?

                Tesla came into the room next with a clipboard, then stopped in front of the captive pirates. They looked up at him, staying in the position they’d relaxed in. “Now, I realize that the two of you may be getting some ideas about not cooperating with my research team and me,” he said. He squatted down. “That is a very bad idea. So I’m going to show you why this is a bad idea.”

                “Fuck you,” Sanji retorted. Nami winced. _Sanji-kun, you idiot._

                “All right, you first,” said Tesla. He turned back to the other scientists. “0544 will be first, not 0543.” Several burlier scientists roughly pulled Sanji away from her, causing Nami to fall to the ground. Sanji cried out for her as he was dragged towards the tank of water – the scientist who was now connected to the oxygen jumped into the water and disappeared below the floor line, revealing how deep the tank really was. The remaining scientists produced a thick barreled gun from their lab coats. “That gun shoots seastone bullets. Please don’t force my men to shoot them.”

                Nami watched from the floor as Sanji’s handcuffs were removed. Suddenly much more energetic, Sanji was quickly on his hands, spin-kicking the closest scientists and quickly rolling behind a cart, which was effective enough at blocking seastone bullets to suit his purpose. Nami’s eyes widened in excitement – Sanji-kun was actually doing something useful!

                _Maybe he was goading Tesla on to pull this off! If he can get us out of here . . . oh Sanji-kun, I might kiss you! For free!_ Sanji picked up a loose piece of equipment with his Devil Fruit power and started wildly swinging it at the scientists while staying in his hiding place – he clocked a few of them out cold, including two of the gunners.

                “I would stop that, unless you want 0543 to be shot.” Nami froze and saw that one of the gunners had his gun pointed at her. The makeshift weapon was dropped, and Sanji slowly rose to his feet, his hands in the air. One of the uninjured scientists used the opportunity to shove Sanji towards the water – he tripped over the side, yelled, and with a splash was submerged.

                It took Nami a second to remember the main drawback of eating a Devil Fruit. “SANJI-KUN!”

 

                It was a weird sensation. Sanji could remember everything he had ever learned about swimming, could remember the exact movements his arms and legs needed to make, and knew that, on dry land, he could successfully perform those motions. The breast stroke, side stroke, dog paddle, back stroke, that one crazy fight he’d had with that one Fishman, all of it.

                He felt like he was paralyzed.

                And he was sinking, slowly sinking further down into the water. He could see the surface, several blurry faces looking at him. All he had to do was move his arms and legs and he’d be able to get back to the surface. Just moving his arms and legs would propel him through the water towards the surface – water was tangible enough to do that.

                His Devil Fruit locked his arms and legs in place.

                His eyes widened in a panic. He held his mouth closed, trying to hold his breath as long as possible. It hadn’t even been that long, but his lungs burned from the thought of being unable to breath. At this point instinct told Sanji to flail around in panic, but he couldn’t even do that. He continued to sink, getting farther and farther away from the surface.

                His lungs couldn’t hold out any further and he let out the breath he’d been holding.

                Sanji watched the bubble of that breath float freely and quickly to the surface. A place he couldn’t get himself to. He wanted to start crying. He needed AIR. But he couldn’t get to it. He felt his heart racing, and the more his heart raced the more air he needed.

                He felt someone come up from behind and shove a mask over his mouth and nose. It was dry, and filled with air. Sanji breathed in deeply as the figure held him tightly, and they began to ascend back to the surface. He greedily breathed in the air, certain he was crying but unable to feel the tears flow down his cheeks.

                They broke the surface and he could hear Nami screaming his name as he was tossed out of the tank and onto cold cement. He coughed, sitting up and clutching at his chest. He was roughly put back into the seastone cuffs and dragged towards the corner where they had left Nami. He was dropped there, and watched in horror as they grabbed Nami.

                “No! Stop! Don’t hurt her!” Sanji yelled. Nami started to cry, and the cook wanted nothing more than to break away from these men and stop them from doing to her what they had done to him. Instead, he watched helplessly as a kicking and screaming Nami was un-handcuffed and dropped into the water.

                Tesla hovered over him. “This is the Tank. If you misbehave, you may find yourself in the Tank again. You were in the Tank for about a minute. I have no problem keeping you or 0543 in the Tank for an hour – I have the ability to keep you alive and keep you down there for even longer. So. Do we understand each other?” He grabbed Sanji by the root of his hair – the blond cried out in pain, never taking his eyes off the tank where Nami was undoubtedly feeling the same frightened panic he had.

                “I said . . . do we understand each other?” Sanji was tossed to the ground. His scalp throbbing and his body still shaken from the Tank, he nodded from his position on the ground. “Good. Once the girl is back up bring them back to their cell. I’m trying to decide if 0544’s little stunt should cost them dinner or not.”

                Sanji tried to hold back sobs at the idea of going hungry.

 

**_What is the point of this!?_ **

**_Stop hurting them!_ **

**_Can’t you see what you’re doing to them!?_ **

**_Let them go!_ **

**_Please just let them go home and be happy._ **

 

                Somehow, Sanji and Nami managed to hold it together until they were locked in their holding cell. The scientists un-cuffed them, left them their dinner, and exited, locking the door behind them. Both of them were still dripping wet – they had been given no towels, the cell was cold, and both of them were shivering.

                Their eyes locked, and they were in each other’s arms in an instant, sobbing hysterically.


	9. 08

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sanji is punished for his actions in the Tank room. Nami has a nightmare of her own.

                The day after the incident in the Tank, Sanji was surprised to wake up to see they had given him a simple metal collar and no seastone to restrain him. He’d been removed from the holding cell while he was still asleep and was lying on a table untended to. There were some scientists, including Tesla, idly standing by. None of them seemed to notice he was waking up.

                This was his chance to get out.

                He slid off the table away from them and began to creep towards the door. Then he just needed to find Nami, steal a lifeboat, and head for the nearest island. Who knew, maybe they were docked and getting back on dry land would be a piece of cake? Or maybe they were just a little bit off shore – that might actually be easier, no –

                BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

                Sanji howled in pain and clutched at his neck as a strong jolt of electricity was sent through his body. He stopped trying to escape, panting and grasping at the collar as Tesla casually walked over to him, crossing his arms and glaring at him coolly. The cook coughed and hacked –his neck felt warm, probably burnt from the shock, and his whole body was shaking terribly.

                “Although it seems as if the value you place on 0543’s life if enough, I thought this would enforce your good behavior as well,” said Tesla. He knelt down to glare at Sanji up close. “Try any stunts like what you pulled yesterday again and you WILL get more shocks.” Two of the scientists picked him up and laid him back on the table, this time strapping his arms and legs down.

                Sanji looked at Tesla, still twitchy from the shocks. “My captain will kill you.”

                Tesla casually picked up a device with a button – when it was pushed, Sanji received another shock. He screamed, convulsing against the straps and the table as the shock continued to course through his body like a painful wave. When the jolt stopped, he saw Tesla just as nonchalantly putting the device back down. “You both need to stop that nonsense – even if he’s still searching now, he will give up, replace you, and move on.”

                The cook was shuddering on the floor, clenching his eyes shut and trying to keep Tesla from seeing him cry. He was wrong. He didn’t know Luffy. Luffy was going to look for them until he found them or dropped dead. All he and Nami needed to do was survive, be there for each other, and then some day everything would be all right again.

                 The captain hovered over him, and pressed the button again.

 

                Nami was alarmed when she was returned to the cell and saw Sanji lying in the middle of the floor, breathing irregularly and twitching a little. She screamed and dove to his side, checking him over with what little first aid knowledge she had. “Sanji-kun . . . Sanji-kun!” Sanji looked at her, shaky and teary-eyed. She saw the metal collar around his neck. “What is that?!”

                “Shock collar,” he said. He grasped it, clenching his eyes shut. “I don’t think it was for science.”

                The navigator’s eyes lowered. “Then this was flat out torture.”

                Sanji nodded grimly. “Punishment for yesterday.”

                Nami rubbed his shoulder. “Luffy will come soon. He has to.”

                He clenched his eyes shut. “It’s soldered.”

                Nami examined the collar and swore – it has, indeed, been fused into one piece around his neck. There was no way to remove it. It was loose enough to give him plenty of room to breathe, but not even close to enough room to get it over his head. The navigator swallowed – this was a permanent punishment.

                “Try not to get Tesla mad,” she said. “Franky can get it off. I’m sure. If not him, Usopp.”

                Sanji swallowed. “Really?”  
                “Probably. If not they’ll find a way to get it off. Promise.” She helped him into a sitting position and held him. Sanji didn’t sob, but he rested his head on her shoulder and embraced her. Nami embraced him back, rubbing his back and trying to be soothing. “It’ll be okay. Luffy is going to find us and Usopp and Franky will get it off. This will get fixed.”

                Sanji stayed quiet, nodding into her shoulder. Nami wondered how long it would be before Sanji had to comfort her like this. He’d had the worst day of the two, but she shuddered to think that there would be times she was the shuddering, twitchy mess the cook was at that moment. All she knew was that until they got out of there, there would be no good days.

 

                The cook dreamed of Enel that night. The navigator could only listen helplessly. She watched from her bench, clutching the edges of her pillow as she watched Sanji have his nightmare. He pulled at that awful collar, begging for the man who’d eaten the electrical fruit to stop choking him. _It’s okay, Sanji – Usopp and Franky will get it off._

                She wondered if she was going to get a collar. Just because she hadn’t tried to maw someone to death yet with her powers didn’t necessarily mean the pirates felt safe around her. She felt her neck, savoring the lack of restraint around it. Maybe it was only a matter of time before she was given the same treatment Sanji was.

                _No, this is because Sanji tried to fight back. If I don’t fight back I won’t get one._

                That didn’t seem fair. Nami almost wanted to cause trouble just to provoke Tesla into giving her one, too. Although it was possible there was only one and she’d just get the Tank again, and both of them decided that they wanted nothing to do with that awful place if they could help it. No, there wasn’t much she could do to empathize with him on this one.

                Sanji finally bolted upright, clutching, at his chest and breathing heavily. He gasped for a few moments, then his breathing  slowed. He ran his hands through his hair and looked over at Nami. “Nami-san?” he asked.

                “You had a nightmare,” she said. “Are you okay?”

                The cook paused for a moment before nodding. “Probably.” He hand moved to the collar, and he shook his head. “No. No I’m not.” He pulled at it again and whined. “Son of a bitch.” He looked ready to cry. Nami’s heart pained – it was like he was even more trapped than he was before. She stood up and padded over to him, sitting next to him and resting her head on his shoulder. Sanji rested his head on hers, still clutching the metal around his neck.

                “We’ll figure something out,” said Nami. She reached over and grabbed his hand, squeezing it. He squeezed back, swallowing. “We just have to make it through this. That’s all we have to do. Live. That’s it.”She twisted her torso around to hug him, resting her head on his other shoulder. “Luffy and the others are going to find us. They have to. They’re not going to stop looking for us. Never.”

                Sanji nodded, but was obviously starting to drift off again. Nami stayed where she was until she was sure he was close to sleep, then slowly laid him back down on the bench. He was out, breathing deep and heavy. She sighed, giving his hand one last squeeze before heading back to her own bench for the night.

 

                **_Nami was sitting in her little one room house at the dinner table with Nojiko and Bellemere. But hadn’t Bellemere died? No, of course she hadn’t – she was sitting at the table with them, and they were eating dinner, of course she hadn’t died years ago, what a strange notion to think. Nami shook her head and took another bite of chicken._**

**_“I wish I could protect you girls forever,” said Bellemere._ **

**_“What are you talking about? You’re out mother!” Nojiko said. “That’s a silly thing to say!”_ **

**_Nami opened her mouth as the walls of the house began to disintegrate, like they were made of sand. She stood up and looked around in a panic, reaching under her skirt for the Perfect ClimaTact. It wasn’t there, and when she looked for her mother and sister, she couldn’t see them, either. “Nojiko! Bellemere!” She cried out looking for them, but there was no answer._ **

**_The house and everything in it was gone, and she was standing on a never-ending desert of metal. She looked around, running this way and that to try and find her family. What about the Straw Hats? Where was Luffy, or Zoro, or Usopp, or Sanji or Chopper or Robin or Franky or Brook? Where were any of them?_ **

**_Sanji was standing right next to her, his hand clutching hers. “Be careful,” he said._ **

**_Nami swallowed, looking around nervously. “Where’s Bellemere?” she asked._ **

**_“Dunno.”_ **

**_The sheet metal began to warp around them. Nami lost her balance and fell to the ground, screaming and crying as Sanji disappeared into the silver. Nami started to scream – she wanted Sanji, she wanted Luffy, but most of all she just wanted Bellemere. “Bellemere! BELLEMERE! WHERE ARE YOU? BELLEMERE!!!”_ **

Nami woke up screaming and worse, constricted. “Bellemere! BELLEMERE!”

                “Nami-san! Nami-san!”

                Nami stopped flailing and saw Sanji was cradling her in his arms, an alarmed look in his eyes. She stared at him for several seconds before she felt her bottom lip start to quiver and found her arms around his neck as she started to sob. Sanji returned the embrace, rubbing her back and trying to comfort her like she had earlier.

                They were going to repeat this scene over and over again – maybe not every night, but more often than not. Nami knew it. The nightmares were not going to magically stop anytime soon. And even when they did wake up, they’d be awakening to another nightmare, anyways. Not even in their dreams did they have an escape.

                “Can we . . . can we talk for a little while? Just . . . just so we don’t need to go to sleep again? Please? ” Nami asked. Her eyes felt heavy, but she didn’t want to go to sleep again – not yet, anyways.  She didn’t want to risk going back to that horrible dream. She needed to get away from it, even if for just a little longer.

                Sanji nodded, understanding what she wanted. “What do you want to talk about?”

                 Nami rested her head against his shoulder. “Anything but here.”

                The cook closed his eyes. “What about your map? Drawing a map of the whole world?”

                The navigator smiled, grasping his hand. “Yeah. The one with All Blue on it.”

                They talked for three hours.


	10. 09

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sanji and Nami have been captive for a month.

                Dinner was served and the lights dimmed.

                They had been trapped there for, based on a calendar Sanji had seen, four weeks. They’d been kidnapped February 1, and now it was February 28. Four weeks of torture, experiments, crying, shitty, food, being cold, being half naked or entirely naked against their will, zero privacy, and for Sanji, no cigarettes (although by now he begrudgingly admitted his cravings were all but completely gone). 

                A month. They’d been Tesla’s guinea pigs for a month.

                And yet, somehow, Nami got the awful feeling that they hadn’t seen all of the tests these scientists wanted to run. Some of it, she realized, may not hurt, but she also realized that much of it probably would hurt. A lot. She shuddered and whimpered at the idea – she really didn’t like being in pain (she knew very few people who did) and it wasn’t even like this was serving a purpose. She wasn’t exactly taking a hit for one of her friends – that she could handle. But this?

                Sanji looked a bit shaken too from his place across the room. She wondered if he’d tried to resist and ended up in the Tank again, maybe even for a few minutes – she somehow doubted Tesla would make good on his threat to leave them there for a whole hour at this stage. Either way, the blond looked frazzled. He saw her looking at him. Their eyes locked before they turned back to their food.

                “What a time for Luffy to be a dumbass,” said Nami.

                “Yeah, really,” said Sanji. He put his bowl on the floor and lied back. “How did your day go?”

                “Shitty,” Nami said irritably.

                “I guess that’s going to be the only real answer here for a while, huh?”  
                “Probably.”

                Nami dropped her bowl to the floor and laid down, turning her back to Sanji to sleep. She shuddered. Today had been quiet – just shots, food, and pills. She and Sanji hadn’t said much to each other – mostly just small talk about waiting for Luffy to come rescue them. Talking about how Luffy was going to destroy this boat and everyone on it. Luffy wouldn’t abandon them. He would punish every last person who did this to them.

                Of course he would. He had to.

                She closed her eyes and tried to sleep. She was tired. Spending the day waiting around and staring at Sanji was emotionally draining. Nami wasn’t sure why she was tired, but she was exhausted and just wanted to sleep. If only her body would let her sleep. Her head was a mess and her stomach was in knots. She wanted to start crying.

                Again.

                _Is this all we can do anymore? Cry and feel sorry for ourselves?_ The thought depressed her. Tesla kept them under tight lock and key, usually seastone. They weren’t bound with seastone while in the cell anymore, but the scientists had started carrying seastone with them to subdue them until they could get the restraints on.

                And then they were strapped to tables for hours and hours. They’d have their blood drawn. They were given shots. They were rarely given lunch anymore and there was barely any nutrition in what food they were given for breakfast and dinner. Nami was hungry, but didn’t dare complain about the food in front of Sanji, knowing he’d gone through a far more dire starvation as a child.

                “Nami-san, are you . . . I guess you’re not alright but you’re shaking.”

                Nami sniffled. She hadn’t noticed. “I just wanna go home.”

                That was what finally made her start crying that evening. Fuck being a pirate, fuck her map, she just wanted to go back to Cocoyashi Village and sob into Bellemere’s arms – it was in her dreams almost every night. Cocoyashi Village was probably on the other side of the world, and Bellemere was dead – she wouldn’t see Nojiko or Genzo ever, ever again.

                Nami was alone.

                She felt something beside her on the bench and felt a hand on her shoulder. Sanji softly spoke, squeezing her gently. “You can cry, Nami-san. I don’t mind. Remember, I’ve been crying, too.” Nami turned her head, barely able to tell that tears were falling down his cheeks as well. Sanji wasn’t sobbing, but sure enough he was crying.  She twisted and sat up, watching Sanji’s hand fall to his knee.

                _I’m an idiot. Sanji-kun probably misses his home, too – the Baratie, North Blue . . ._

                Nami leaned forward, resting her head on his shoulder. She closed her eyes as Sanji wrapped his arms around her – they were shaky, but there was no malice or coolness in his arms. It was human contact that didn’t hurt. It was only a month ago she took it for granted, but now she craved it. And Sanji was the only person who could provide it.

                “Yes. We’re going to do this,” he said. “We just need to wait a little longer.”

                Nami nodded. “Don’t let me go.” She clenched her eyes shut tighter. “I’m afraid.”

                “Me too.”

 

                “To one month.”

                “To one month.”

                Tesla and Curie clinked their wine glasses together as they gazed out at the ocean on the deck of the _Newton_. It had been one month since they had acquired 0543 and 0544 and they had survived the whole month in relatively good health. This time, it seemed, they had done something right with the 05 series.

                Perhaps it wouldn’t be long before they found the results they sought.

                “This is an excellent wine, Captain,” said Curie. “Your taste is impeccable.”

                “Thank you, Curie.” He took a sip from his glass. It was, indeed, impeccable. It was sweet and light and pleasant to swallow – not as harsh on the throat as what the crew liked to drink. He imagined it would go wonderfully with a fine cheese spread, but it had been some time since they had procured any from port.

                In fact . . .

                “We should try to seek port soon,” said Tesla.

                “Well, I’ve been told it may be a while before we reach port,” said his first mate. She cleared her throat, looking into her wine glass. “There is an island one week from here as the crow flies, but the crew has set course for a different island a month away in the opposite direction, sir.”

                “For what purpose?” asked Tesla.

                “They are afraid of a legend in the area of that other island, sir.”

                Tesla’s wine glass shattered on the deck.

                “They’re afraid of something that is not there?” he asked, his voice growing tense.

                “The island is supposed to be haunted, sir.”

                Tesla barely heard the end of the sentence before he stormed off the deck in search of the incompetent buffoons he called the ship’s navigator and helmsan. Curie sighed and rubbed her temples. _Truly, if the crew wanted to avoid Dr. Tesla’s ire, they should not believe in such childish fairy tales. It would only serve them in the long run._

 

                The lights went on.

                Sanji opened his eyes and saw the top of Nami’s head just below his nose. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath – even after all this time, somehow, she still smelled a little like tangerines. He tightened his embrace around her and felt her grip him a little tighter, too. He stayed quiet for a few minutes, enjoying the peace of the moment.

                They’d fallen asleep holding each other. When they got too tired, and neither wanted to let the other go, they’d moved themselves to the center of the room for the night. It had been nice, quiet, comforting, and almost relaxing, even in the middle of the floor – not that their benches were much more comfortable.

                Sanji closed his eyes again. Maybe the scientists would leave them alone today. He liked the idea of going back to sleep. A pit formed in his stomach. Not likely. It wouldn’t be long before Tesla  sent his cronies to the cell to feed them, drag them out, and put them through yet another day of being poked and prodded until they were done.

                Nami murmured something in her sleep and gripped his shirt a little tighter. He didn’t want to wake her. Let her have a few more moments of peace while she slept. He tried to go back to sleep himself. He wanted to forget where he was for a little while longer. He wanted Luffy to burst through the door, yelling their names and angrily screaming he was going to kick Tesla’s ass (if not outright kill him). He’d even be okay if Zoro helped him out – he didn’t care. He’d be happy to see the swordsman.

                Because it would mean he was going home.

                The sound of the door clicking open shattered the quiet, and he felt Nami tremble in his arms.


	11. 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The newest medication Sanji and Nami are forced to take causes hallucinations. One of Sanji's is more aggressive than he'd like.

                Sanji and Nami were given a simple choice: they could either take the new  pills they were being given at breakfast and dinner, or spend five minutes in the Tank. If it was discovered they were palming them or flushing them, it would be a half hour in the Tank. As far as the pirates were concerned, there was no choice. The pills were taken without argument.

                 Nami mostly slept through her sample collection, injections, and vital sign tests the day the new pills started. This was somewhat normal. Since she and Sanji had started their late night conversations, they ended up sleeping through much of their tests (if they were a matter of receiving IVs and observation).

                She woke up to see Absalom standing next to her table.

                Nami shrieked at the sight of her former captor, struggling to get away. He stood there laughing and looming over her with bloody red eyes and those huge, gnashing teeth. He pressed a finger to her neck and drew a claw down, scarlet seeping from the wound. Her shirt split as he dragged his finger further down, exposing more and more of her chest and stomach.

                _Not him, not him, not HIM!_ Nami squirmed from her position on the table. Even though he was long gone, Absalom was still very creepy and everything he had tried to do to her still bothered her: marrying her would have been a far cry from the worst thing he could have done. She didn’t know how he’d found her but she wanted him gone. Nami continued to scream, begging for Luffy or Sanji to help her.

                There was a slap to her face – in an instant Absalom was gone and Curie was standing over her, yelling at her to stay quiet. Nami quiet, breathing heavily. She tried to get a look at her chest – no blood, and her neck seemed to be okay. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes, still breathing heavily.

                She didn’t think she’d fallen asleep again – she was positive she’d been awake when it happened. Nami’s eyes stayed wide for the rest of the afternoon, and her heart was racing. A scientist made a note of it somewhere, and what felt like days later she was removed from the table and brought back to her holding cell.

 

                Sanji wasn’t sure what to think anymore. He didn’t want to move (not that he could move very far, what with all the restraints they used) for fear of upsetting and attracting the massive swarm of insects flying around the room to his helpless frame. He swallowed, keeping his mouth shut tight – what if one of them flew into his mouth or something to lay their eggs under his tongue?

                He hated bugs. All of them.

                And he hated that thousands of them were swarming around him and there was nothing he could do to get away. He squirmed as much as his restraints would allow, his eyes darting back and forth as he tried to keep an eye on the insects. He tried to grip the table, but his fingers only found flat metal. He whimpered a little.

                And then, in the blink of an eye, every last one of them was gone. Sanji opened his mouth to gasp for air and raised his head, wondering where the offensive little buggers had gone off to. No sign of them – just the scientists on duty. He laid his head back down and wondered what had happened, and then it came to him.

 

                “That new pill has something in it that causes hallucinations,” Sanji said dryly over dinner.

                “Hallucinations,” said Nami. She whined and lied back on the floor. “Every time we take one of those we’re going to have a HALLUCINATION!?” She screamed in frustration and sat back up. “Just when we think this place can’t POSSIBLY get any worse they think of something else to make us miserable!” She got to her feet and stormed towards the door.

                “Nami-san?” Sanji asked as the navigator started to bang her fists into the door.

                “YOU ASSHOLES! LET US GO! LET US OUT! STOP HURTING US! LET US GO HOME! BRING US BACK TO LUFFY! STOP IT! STOP IT YOU FUCKING SONS OF BITCHES! LEAVE US ALONE!” The door made a loud echoing banging sound with each punch she threw at the door. Sanji got to his feet behind her, embracing her when she finally gave up and started to cry.

                Her knuckles were bloody and raw.

                “Nami-san . . .”

                “I’m sorry.”

                “No, it’s all right,” he said. He lifted the bottom of his shirt for inspection, trying to decide if it was clean enough for a bandage. He closed his eyes – he didn’t think so, but maybe someone would come by to investigate and, for the sake of their “precious results” Curie would swing by and heal her up. He walked her over to one of the benches and sat her down, rubbing her back

                “I don’t know how much longer I can do this, Sanji-kun,” Nami said. “It’s been over a month – why hasn’t Luffy saved us yet?” she asked. She sniffled, clenching her eyes shut as she tried to suppress a sob. Sanji wiped some of her tears aside. “Why doesn’t he know where we are? Why hasn’t he . . . why hasn’t he found us?”

                Sanji closed his eyes. “He . . . probably doesn’t know who took us. I doubt any of them do. It isn’t Luffy’s style, but he needs to find a lead before he can find us,” said the cook. He didn’t want to say it, but it was true – that must have been what was going on. They hadn’t told Luffy which ship they were going to try and rob (they didn’t even know that until they saw the ship). The likelihood of them finding out which pirate ships were in port that day was slim – even if they knew that, they had no idea where Tesla was sailing.

                The futility of their situation was starting to become too real. No, Luffy hadn’t quit on them – he probably wouldn’t for a very long time. But he didn’t know anything about their situation. He didn’t know what had happened to them. Luffy must have been looking in all the wrong places – maybe Marine vessels or they were still combing that island for them.

                Sanji took a second look at his hospital gown, decided it was just stained and not actually dirty, and ripped a few strips off the bottom. “Give me your hands,” he said. Nami quietly nodded as he led them to the sink, washed her hands and the strips as best he could with the soap they hand, and wrapped them around her sore knuckles. “Curie’ll probably do something with them in the morning but this should be good for now.”

                “Thanks, Sanji-kun,” she said. Sanji put his arm around her shoulder and led her back to the bench. “I guess I just lost it.”

                “I’m not mad – we’re both going to be losing out tempers left and right here. It’s all right.”

                Nami turned to hug him. “What are we gonna do?”

                Sanji embraced her back. “We need to be patient. Our time will come.”

 

                Nami dozed off in his arms sometime later, leaving Sanji to pick her up to bring her to the center of the floor for bedtime. He was starting to get tired, too, and they had a very shitty day ahead of them the next morning. He sighed, trying to make sure she looked comfortable before lying himself down next to her.

                “Ooooo, you’ve finally done it!”

                Sanji sat up in shock. “What?” He looked around for the source of the voice. “Who’s there?”  
                “Me. You. Us.”

                The cook was stunned to see someone sitting on one of the benches. His jaw dropped and his eyes widened. There was a man sitting on one of the benches. He was grinning like an idiot, a cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth. He was dressed in a neatly pressed black suit with yellow buttons, a red shirt, and a black tie.

                It was himself.

                “How . . . how . . .” Sanji narrowed his eyes. “I know what you are.”

                “Of course you do! You’re ME! I’m YOU!” The other Sanji stood up and shoved his hands into his pockets, grinning and laughing smugly. “I don’t see how you aren’t thrilled with the situation we’ve found ourselves in, or is the swordsman right about how stupid we are?” Sanji watched the Love Cook pause in front of him and grin longingly at Nami.

                “What are you doing?” he asked.

                “Look at those legs. Those breasts. She’s mostly naked right now. Mmm, mmm, mmm!”

                “You’re getting OFF on this?!” Sanji hissed.

                The Love Cook bent down in front of him, blowing smoke in his face. “It’s what you wanted.”

                Sanji paled. “Not like this!”

                “You touch yourself when you think about her.”

                Sanji’s cheeks flared. Not right now he wasn’t (and even if he wanted to, no privacy). “Stop it.”

                “You fantasize about fucking her. All the time.”

                His palms felt cold and sweaty. Yes, it was true – he’d certainly fantasized about Nami before. Plenty of times. But he CERTAINLY didn’t get off on her crying and wanting to go home and being tortured at the hands of the sadistic bastards keeping them captive. His fantasies about Nami were about romantic evenings – things like dinner and a trip to the theatre, long walks on the beach, making love at midnight and watching the sunrise while they cuddled in bed. THAT was what he fantasized about.

                Not . . . this.

                “Get out of my sight,” Sanji said. “You’re just a hallucination!”

                “Oh I’m more than that. I’m your sexuality. I’m the one that’s driven you since the first moment you figured out women were fuckable. I’ve been with you when you had you first kiss, your first date, your first FUCK.” The Love Cook blew more smoke in his face and laughed. “You really think you’re not attracted to her anymore?”

                “Of course I am!” Sanji said. “But I’m not going to take advantage of her! Not here, not anywhere!” He shielded her with his arms. “Nami-san is my friend first and foremost – hell, after this she’s my best friend. I’m not going to hurt! The people here are doing a damn fine job of that without my help, so fuck off!”

                Nami started to whimper in her sleep. Sanji turned to try and comfort her. She didn’t wake up, but the Love Cook had shut up. He turned to see the Love Cook was gone. He sighed and shook his head – he’d been a hallucination. A fucking obnoxious one, but a hallucination none the less. Sanji shuddered as he lied down next to Nami, wrapped his arms around her, and tried to sleep.


	12. 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On Sanji's birthday, he's exposed to a new test.

                The lights turned on.

                Sanji was staring at the ceiling. Today, he realized, might be the worst day so far. Not because he anticipated anything particularly worse than usual, but because of the day itself. Assuming the calendars they had been using to keep track of the days off and on were accurate, this day, of all days, had a special weight.

                His stomach sank. The last time this day had sucked this bad was back when he and the geezer were on the island, slowly starving half to death. Of course, on the island, he wasn’t sure what day it was when it happened, but in retrospect, while he was on the road to recovery, he realized it had come and gone.

                This year . . . he wasn’t sure which was going to be worse. 

                “It’s my birthday.”

                Nami was lying on her stomach a few feet away when Sanji said it. She looked up at him, blinking a little – she wasn’t entirely sure what to say to him. “Happy birthday,” she said softly. She almost cringed. No. That didn’t seem quite right. It was what you said to someone on their birthday, certainly, but this . . .

                Sanji’s answer confirmed her concerns. He looked away from her and snorted. “Yeah. Really.”

                “How old are you now? Twenty, right?”

                Sanji sighed bitterly. “Yeah. Maybe fate will give me a birthday present and Luffy will show up.”

                “That would be nice,” said Nami. She wasn’t sure she believed it.

                “I’m going to shove my foot up his ass for taking so long. Idiot captain.”

                Nami shifted. “I know we’re stuck until he shows up but Luffy doesn’t know who took us. He needs to figure that out first.” She held out her arm to rub Sanji’s shoulder. “Robin’s smart – she might be able to help everyone figure it out – maybe she’s heard of him and they find out this is what he does or something. Then they just need to find us.”

                Sanji sighed. As right as Nami was, that didn’t make their situation any better.

                Really.

 

                Sanji wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing that he wasn’t in one of the normal testing rooms. Last time he’d been brought to a different room . . . that had been the room where the Tank was. Sanji decided it was a very good thing this wasn’t the Tank room, either. Question was, was this worse than that awful place?

                It was a very empty room – Tesla (just having him in the room? That was a bad sign right there) and several other scientists were sitting with clipboards around the room. Sanji was ordered to strip. He winced, but obeyed. _A physical? This might not be so bad._ He swallowed, covering himself with his hands (like it mattered) and keeping his eyes closed.

                “Move your hands.”

                Sanji started to shake his head no, and then he remembered the collar.

                He kept his eyes clenched shut.

                “0544 appears to be in good health on first appearance. No visible rashes, sores, bruises, or unusual body marks,” Tesla narrated. The other scientists murmured an agreement. “Vitals have gradually improved since subject stopped tobacco intake and have reached a plateau over the last week.” Tesla smirked at Sanji. “I dare say we’ve IMPROVED his health.”

                Sanji wanted to snarl or scream but he held his tongue back. Tesla had the remote for his collar.

                “So he’s healthy enough for an ice test?”

                “I would venture to say so, yes.”

                _. . . what the hell’s an ice test?_

 

                The holding cell was rarely what Sanji considered a “warm” place – it was usually chilly and damp, but certainly warm enough to comfortably survive in. Having Nami there was helpful, too – no matter how cold he felt, she was always warm when he held her. Having her there with him was a strange sort of comfort – he didn’t want her to be there suffering with him, but he couldn’t bring himself to say he wished he were suffering alone.

                But this test now had him wishing he was in the holding cell. It cools dampness, its hard floor, its complete lack of privacy . . . it was better than where he was now. The only place worse than this room – this test – was a trip to the Tank, and even then, Sanji decided this room still sucked a lot, too. Here, he could breath, but the Tank wasn’t as cold as this place.

                The room the ice test was held in was freezing.

                There was nothing in the room but cold, swirling misty air and himself. Nothing to cover himself with. Nothing to hide from the cold in – they hadn’t given him any clothing, although he was positive it would not have helped considering what they usually gave him. He was squatting, shivering in the room – his feet hurt but the floor was so cold he didn’t dare try to sit or kneel – more skin would be touching the frigid stone.

                Sanji held his arms cross, his fingers and as much of his palms as he could between his bicep and his side. It wasn’t much warmer, but it WAS warmer there. Tesla was taking his dignity, his ability to swim, his time . . . he wasn’t taking his hands. Even if Sanji lived another thousand years, he couldn’t stand the thought of living without his hands. He had to keep them warm, because if so much as a pinky was frostbitten, that could be the end of his life as a cook.

                There was a mirror he guessed they were watching him through – observing him for some twisted reason. He imagined them sitting in there, warmer than they realized, jotting down notes about who the hell knew what. They might even have coffee or tea or some other hot beverage for all he knew.

                Regardless this didn’t make any sense to Sanji. What the hell was the point of this test? Did having telekinetic powers suddenly mean he could withstand the cold better? Sure it took Luffy a while to notice it was cold but that was probably just his own idiocy and not his Devil Fruit affecting that. Chopper didn’t count because he was a reindeer and LIKED the cold (sometimes when they were in a particularly warm area of the Grand Line, Chopper liked to sleep by the fridge and, knowing the reason why, Sanji let him). Robin didn’t react to much of anything but always dressed appropriately for the weather. And Brook . . . they hadn’t been around him long enough to know how a skeleton reacts to extreme cold.

                Sanji wondered where the others were. By now they must have left the island they were taken from – by now they could have combed the island twice. But what were they doing to find them? Even if someone smart like Robin or maybe Usopp figured out they were removed all together what could they do to find them?

                _No. Luffy will find a way. It might not make any sense but Luffy will FIND A WAY._

                Sanji collapsed on his side, getting too tired to keep squatting. He took a look at his fingers – they were turning blue. And the icy floor on his side felt like it could give him frostbite at any moment. He continued to shudder and chatter, nearly asleep by the time he heard the door click open and the sound of Tesla’s men yelling.

 

                Sanji woke up chattering sometime later, covered in blankets and lying on a gurney. He was tied down to the gurney (no surprise there), but there were blankets keeping his skin away from the cold metal surface and he was definitely not in the ice room anymore. Scientists were hustling around him, checking his vital signs.

                Tesla hovered over him. “He’s awake,” he said. “We have his hypothermia undercontrol.”

                “His temperature is still several degrees below normal, sir.”

                Tesla sighed. “Fine. When we bring him back to the cell give him a blanket and make sure his meals are warmed. Until his vitals regulate take him off the testing rotation.” The captain of the science pirates looked at Sanji and sneered. _He’s pissed,_ the cook noted. _Because I’m sick his precious research is delayed. Shit._

                _But wait . . . how did I get sick?_ Sanji closed his eyes. It used to take a lot more than that to get him sick. Either his Devil Fruit was screwing with his tolerance for illness (although that made no sense – Luffy had had the Gomu Gomu no Mi since he was a child and he didn’t suddenly find himself prone to disease) or something Tesla was doing to him was doing it.

                He was starting to weaken.

 

                Dinner was served, but Sanji wasn’t back yet.

                Nami ate slowly, her stomach in too many knots as she worried about Sanji. This was the first time he hadn’t been brought back to the cell with her for the evening. Was one of the tests taking too long? Was Sanji being held in a different cell now for some reason (like, perhaps they had found them cuddling on the floor and got the wrong idea?)? Did something go . . . wrong?

                The navigator put her half empty bowl down and doubled over, panicking at the thought she would have to go through the rest of this ordeal alone if something HAD happened to Sanji. She couldn’t stand the thought of him dying here, or of having Luffy show up to rescue them and only having one crewmember to rescue.

                Even if he was able to rescue her, failing to rescue Sanji . . .

                Nami stood and started to pace nervously. She needed Sanji to be alive. Luffy needed him to be alive. SANJI needed Sanji to stay alive. He still had to find All Blue and travel with her while she drew her map and be there when everyone else achieved their dreams. He could NOT die on her. No, no, no, no, no! “Sanji-kun . . . Sanji-kun . . .” she said nervously.

                The lights dimmed. Nami fell to her knees, ready to start crying, when the door opened and a bundle of blankets was tossed into the cell, where it landed on the floor with a thud. She scrambled over to the blankets, where she found Sanji in the middle, shivering with slightly purple lips. Her eyes widened.

                “What did they do to you!?” she asked.

                “I-ic-ice t-t-t-test,” he said.

                Nami put her hand to Sanji’s forehead – it wasn’t dangerously cold, but he was definitely cool to the touch. “Sanji-kun, open the blankets up a little – let me warm you up.” She looked at the blanket –giving him some of her body heat would help a lot. She certainly felt a little cold herself, but it couldn’t have been as bad. Not nearly as bad.

                Sanji was looking at her a little nervously. She sighed. “We’ve already been holding each other at night anyways.” She closed her eyes. “We’re friends. We’re GOOD friends. At this point I probably know you better than I know Robin.” _To be fair Robin hasn’t exactly been an open book . . . like it matters now._ “Do you understand?”

                The cook nodded, still shuddering. He still looked at her a little sadly, afraid to let the warmth out and confused about how he was feeling, but realized she was right, obeyed, and let her quickly scramble into his mess of blanket. They wrapped their arms around each other, trying to warm up the cook.

                Nami shuddered – he was cold. _They must have kept him late to try and warm him up some – no matter how bad they treat us, Tesla wants us alive, after all._ She tried to relax a little, hoping she was doing a good job of warming him up. Maybe they would warm up enough by the time they fell asleep to enjoy the warmth of the blankets themselves – after all, they probably wouldn’t be allowed to keep them.

                “It’ll be all right someday,” she said quietly.

                “I hope so.”

                “Your next birthday will be better,” she said.

                Sanji closed his eyes and looked ready to cry. “Please . . . please don’t remind me.”

                She nodded. “All right.”

 

                Tesla and Curie checked in on 0543 and 0544 the following morning. They expected to find 0544 wrapped in the blankets, what with his bout with hypothermia, but 0543 nestled in with him was a surprise. Curie stood over the too, analyzing the situation before turning to Tesla. “Most likely 0543 did this to try and warm 0544 with her body heat – it is a crude but effective survival technique.”

                “They’re becoming quite reliant on each other,” said Tesla.

                “Should we separate them?”

                “No, no need,” said Tesla. “I’d rather not have them get upset and stop eating or something to throw the test results or cause harm to themselves out of ‘depression’ or what not. Keep them together – they aren’t harming the results any so just let them stay in here.” He sighed. “Break them up and see to 0544’s vitals – I want to make sure he’s healthy for today’s tests.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to Dandywonderous for beta-ing this chapter.


	13. 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nami is exposed to a new test and has a nightmare.

                The ice test Sanji had been put through scared Nami. Would they do the same to her? The cook was one of the toughest Straw Hats and the ice test had done a number on him. What the purpose of it? Throwing him in a freezer like that . . . it made no sense! Why try so hard to kill them? Didn’t they need them alive?

                The navigator was the only one taken from the holding cell. Someone gave the cook a brief exam and declared it was better that he rest for the day after he was given his shots. Sanji looked ready to protest, but Nami shook her head – he needed to rest and if the scientists were going to give it to him he’d better take it. He nodded in reluctant understanding. He was sick, and he needed to get better before they tried anything, should an opportunity to escape arise.

                Nami was put through the same observation Sanji had been before the ice test. It was the very next day, and the navigator braced herself for the cold. _At least I can shift into my tiger form – maybe the fur will keep me warmer if do that._ She felt guilty over having that kind advantage over him – strong as he was, cold was cold and it wasn’t any fun when the threw you into it naked.

                Tesla didn’t ask if she was healthy enough for an ice test – he asked if she was healthy enough for a cube test. Nami didn’t know what this meant, but she didn’t like the sound of it as she was carried away towards wherever this test was going to take place. She closed her eyes and wondered if maybe this was when Luffy was finally going to show up.

 

                Nami was surprised that all they did was give her a shot before locking her in a box. It wasn’t a seastone box or anything, and there was ample room for her to move around in it a little, but there was no exit and she was certain she couldn’t break the box open. It’s walls were made of steel and seemed very solid. She sighed, slid to the bottom to sit, and waited.

                There was no way this was it.

                A grinding, scraping sound could be heard and Nami screamed when she realized two of the walls of the box were moving inwards. The screeching lasted for about thirty seconds and each of the moving walls moved about three inches inward, then stopped. The mechanical sounds stopped and Nami ceased screaming, panting and staring at one of the walls in horror.

                What the HELL were the point of THIS test?

                The calm lasted for several minutes before the door (notably, on a wall that wasn’t moving), was opened by a scientist. Nami started to move to the door, but the scientist shoved her back in before calling over to someone. “She wasn’t caught in one of the walls, continue the test.” Nami’s eyes widened as the door was closed. She scrambled towards it as it was locked and started to bang on the door.

                “LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT OF HERE!”

                The walls started to move again, and this time they didn’t stop. Slowly and surely, they ground themselves closer and closer to her until it was impossible to sit or stand in the room without touching both walls. Even then they moved closer until Nami started to scream again, at which point they stopped. The door was opened again, and Nami started to sidestep towards it. The door was slammed shut, and she wanted to start screaming again, but much to her amazement the walls retracted. She fell to her hands and knees, breathing heavily.

                It was over. The test was done, and she would be let out, and that would be that.

                _No, there’s no way it was that easy. No way._

                The walls were back to their original position, and stayed that way for several minutes. There was no sign of the door opening. Nami stood and walked towards the door, silently waiting for it to open. It had to open. Or did something happen outside of the box? She swallowed, nervously shifting from foot to foot.

                The sound of the device that made the walls move started up again.

                And the walls were racing towards her.

 

                Sanji was more than a little surprised that he, more or less, had the day “off”. He was able to keep the blanket, sleep in the cell, and contemplate how much their lives sucked. No, Luffy still hadn’t shown up to rescue them. No, there still wasn’t a good chance to escape without getting caught and tossed into the Tank for their troubles.

                It was strange being in the holding cell by himself. Sanji didn’t LIKE the holding cell by any stretch of the imagination, but it was the safest, most calm place on the whole ship. He and Nami were able to talk here, and it was comforting to be able to hold her and have her hold him. They spent a lot of time crying in there, and eating the miserably excuses for meals they had, but it was in a sick way, “home”. Anywhere else? They were tied down or poked or prodded or frozen or tossed into the Tank or whatever it was Tesla decided he wanted to do with them.

                Sanji sat up in the middle of the cell with the blankets wrapped around his shoulder. The stupid scientists had DEFINITELY given him hypothermia, but between his ability to bounce back quickly and the swift attention he’d gotten, he was pretty sure he was going to be all right. In all honesty Sanji was just glad (and surprised) he didn’t get any frostbite, especially in his fingers.

                He wiggled his fingers and toes just to be sure, though.

                All of them were there and working just fine. He lied down again, pulling the blanket tighter around him. Who knew how long he’d be allowed to keep it? It wasn’t even like it was anything special, really – it was fairly old, kind of itchy, and smelled a little weird. But it was warm and still softer than the floor. Maybe the scientists would let them keep it after all.

                Dinner arrived with a shaking, trembling Nami. After the door was locked she sat down next to him, her bottom lip trembling. “They put me in a box,” she said. “And it got smaller.” Nami started to cry. “If I wasn’t claustrophobic before, I think I am now. Sanji-kun . . . they didn’t stop until there was barely enough room for me – the only time they opened the door was to make sure I wasn’t caught in something and to see where my limit was, I think.”

                “Nami-san . . .”

                “. . . then they reset the box’s squishing device and put me back in. Over and over again.”

                Sanji’s eyes widened. “Why?”

                “I don’t know. Why did they try to freeze you to death?”

                The cook gestured to the blanket. “They just wanted to freeze me, not freeze me to death.”

                Nami nuzzled closer to Sanji, and he wrapped the blanket around her. She rested her head on his shoulder. “I hope they don’t do that to me again, Sanji-kun.” She gripped the shoulders of his shirt. “Maybe it was just a one-time deal. Maybe they’re never do it again, or maybe the box will break and they won’t be able to even if they wanted to.”

                Sanji rubbed her back, hoping it was true. “Are you okay with me holding you?”

                Nami nodded. “You’ll let me go if I need you too. But yes, it’s okay for you to hug me.”

 

**_Nami woke up in the middle of the night and bolted upright in her sleep. Sanji didn’t wake up – a lot had been taken out of him after he’d had the ice test so it was probably for the better. Still, Nami wasn’t very sure why she was awake right now. The lights were still out so it wasn’t like it was time for breakfast or anything – as far as she knew it was the middle of the night or the wee hours of the morning._ **

**_“It’s probably better that you’re here, anyways.”_ **

**_The navigator turned her head to see Zoro was staring at her, sitting cross-legged on one of the benches. Nami’s eyes lit up in excitement, forgetting what the swordsman had said as she focused more on the fact that he was THERE. “Zoro!” she exclaimed. She felt herself start to cry and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “You guys found us!” She started to get up to greet him. They were getting out!_ **

**_“Shut up.”_ **

**_Nami paused before she was on her feet and stared at Zoro in horror. “Zoro?”_ **

**_“Do you really think we’d want the two of you back?” Nami turned her head to see Usopp standing above her and Sanji. She fell to her behind as the sniper glared at her. “You’re always charging us 10,000 berries for this and 100,000 berries for that – I made you the ClimaTact and IMPROVED it for FREE – and we’re all sick of it!”_ **

**_The navigator felt her heart sink. “Is . . . is that how you really feel?”_ **

**_There was a snort from behind her – now Franky was sitting next to Zoro. “No one wants you back – you’ll probably charge us a fee for rescuing you! We can’t afford to rescue you!” She crossed his legs and turned away. “It definitely isn’t super, Navigator-sis. We’re better off without you. We’ll be better off for it.”_ **

**_“It’s just greedy, Nami!” Chopper was shaking a cloven hoof at her from atop Usopp’s shoulder. “The stress it gives everyone on the crew could cause health problems, or worse, we might not be able to afford medicine if someone gets sick. In fact,” his eyes darkened as his lip curled into a snarl, “Doctorine gave you the cure for that bug bite for free. Didn’t she?”_ **

**_Nami couldn’t believe what she was hearing. _Is this real? Am I dreaming? Am I hallucinating?__ **

**_“You even tried to extort money from Miss Wednesday in exchange for saving her country,” said Robin. “It was all you wanted – admit it. You never considered her a friend, and I bought your trust with treasure. You don’t have friends – you merely have business associates, and they’re all being sucked dry.”_ **

**_“You’re like a leech attached to our flesh, greedily gobbling up every last berry on us.” Brook paused, then laughed. “Yohohohoho! I don’t have any flesh!” But his eyes darked as he leaned forward on his cane. “You weren’t interested in rescuing me from Thriller Bark either, were you? You were more interested in how much treasure you could find.”_ **

**_“I thought I trusted you, Nami.”_ **

**_Nami felt tears flowing down her face. Luffy was squatting in front of her, staring into her eyes. But unlike the others, he wasn’t accusatory or angry or scolding her. More than anything else he just looked disappointed, saddened, and let down. He lowered his hat over his eyes. “I feel bad for Sanji. He’s the one you took advantage of the most.”_ **

**_All of the Straw Hats turned to where Sanji was still sleeping and shivering on the floor, barely covered with blanket._ **

**_Zoro clucked his tongue. “He’s an idiot but half of his idiocy was from you leading him on.”_ **

**_“He’s sick and you’re not even giving him all the blanket,” said Chopper._ **

**_“It’s not like-“ Nami protested._ **

**_“You’ve been using us this whole time, Navigator-san,” said Robin._ **

**_“You’ll use MY ship to make YOUR map if we give you the chance,” said Franky._ **

**_“You’ll probably make me upgrade your weapon again and charge me to do it,” Usopp sneered._ **

**_“And your biggest defender could end up dying because of you,” said Brook._ **

**_“What?!” Nami asked in alarm._ **

**_Luffy stood up and looked down at her. “When Sanji was hit by those darts you just gave up, didn’t you?” he said. Nami felt her stomach begin to churn, and she covered her mouth with her hand. “You just put your hands up and expected me to come save you. You didn’t do ANYTHING to save yourself or Sanji!”_ **

**_Tears were flowing freely down her cheeks. Luffy’s words were true. When Sanji went down she did nothing. They were dragged inside of the ship and neither of them had seen the light of day or even a glimpse of the moon since. She didn’t even try to fight back. Even if they couldn’t get away she could have tried._ **

**_“LUFFY!” Nami screamed. “I’M SORRY!”_ **

**_“Too late.”_ **

**_One by one, the Straw Hats bursts into geysers of money – cold coins, paper notes, stock and bond agreements, jewelry, anything with monetary value. The room wouldn’t stop filling, and Nami sat there in the middle of the cell, holding herself and screaming for it to stop. She had to tell the Straw Hats she was sorry. She had to make it right._ **

                “LUFFY! I’M SORRY!”

                Sanji woke up to Nami screaming next to him, watching in bewilderment as she laid in the fetal position only a foot away from him, covering her face with her hands and crying and begging everyone on the crew for forgiveness, although for what he didn’t know, and begging them to not leave her alone. “Nami-san!” he cried. “Nami-san!”

                “MAKE IT STOP! I DON’T WANT IT!”

                The cook stared at her in bewilderment. He didn’t want the experiments, either, but losing it wasn’t going to help them get away from Tesla any faster. Sanji reached out to touch her shoulder to try and calm her down. _This is such an intense hallucination – oh Nami-san . . ._  “Nami-san, we just need to keep-“

                “I DON’T WANT YOUR MONEY! I DON’T WANT ANY TREASURE! I JUST WANNA GO HOME!”


	14. 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After being advised not to dock on the island, Tesla has an unwanted encounter on Water 7.

                “Captain, we can’t go to the next island.”

                Tesla put down his fork and glared coldly at his navigator, Radian. Though officially he himself was the captain of the crew and the unparalleled leader (only Curie came even close to his authority), his navigator was in charge of the running the ship itself. Normally, Tesla took whatever Radian said about the sailing of the ship seriously – storms, notifying him of the presence of other pirates or Marine vessels, islands spotting, and the like. He also had a very useful talent when it was time for shore leave as well.

                But being told they couldn’t land on an island? There had better be a damn good reason for it.

                And if his sailors were terrified of children’s stories again, he would have Radian’s head.

                “ . . . what do you mean, Radian?”

                “The next island is Water 7, sir.”

                Tesla folded his hands. “The ship building island?”

                “Yes, sir.”

                He lowered his head just enough to balance his glasses on the edge of his nose. He kept his eyes locked on Radian, glaring coldly. The navigator swallowed – Tesla was angry with him. No one liked it when Tesla was angy with them. “They service pirates as well as Marines, you blockhead. As long as we don’t set fire to their port and pay them properly they won’t sic the Marines on us.”

                “The Marines are not the problem, sir.” He wrung his hands nervously. “It’s pirates.”

                “Spit it out! We’re pirates, you imbecile!”

                Radian swallowed. “It’s the Straw Hat Pirates, sir.”

                Tesla was about to yell at Radian again when he remembered the significance of that crew. “That’s the crew 0543 and 0544 belonged to,” he said, looking at the wall of his quarters. He had collected the posters of the remaining Straw Hat pirates (Straw Hat Luffy, Pirate Hunter Zoro, Sogeking, Cotton Candy Chopper, Demon Child Nico Robin, Cyborg Franky, and Humming Swordsman Brook) on the off chance they came looking for their crewmates.

                Most of them were supernovas.

                That was a problem.

                Tesla crossed his arms. “It may be a good idea to determine what they’re doing about their missing crewmates. If they are searching, we will need to leave. If they are not searching, well, we wish them luck in their recruitment efforts and don’t breathe a word about our hand in the disappearances of their former comrades.”

                He closed his eyes. “To be safe, however, I want the ship on full alert. We’ll be keeping 0543 and 0544 in the holding cell with at least two guards outside at all times – have them in seastone restraints as well. I don’t want ANY risk of them escaping. Understood?” Radian nodded and went off to deliver the orders to the rest of the crew.

 

                Curie stayed behind with the Newton to ensure their security measures were not compromised while Radian and Tesla headed into the market for supplies and information. Before they left the docks, however, he took a good, long look at the ship bearing the Jolly Roger of the Straw Hat Pirates to try and judge how dangerous this 400 million berry man 0543 and 0544 stilled called “captain” was.

                The ship looked . . . stupid.

                There was a needless use of far too bright colors, no visible canons, and a smiling . . . flower, or lion, or some other nonsense for a figurehead. Tesla curled up his nose at the ship in disgust. It was hideous. Not that he felt ships needed to be pretty – merely functional – but this was an eyesore. Perhaps it was a clever disguise and the thing was far more dangerous than it looked, but floating by the docks it looked completely harmless.

                Straw Hat Luffy must have been an idiot and a fool. He would be no threat, Supernova or not.

                “Bah,” he said. “Let’s continue on.”

 

                **_Hey!_**

**_What’s wrong with Sunny?_ **

 

                Radian and Tesla made several stops at the market, Radian looking over navigational equipment and general repair tools. The captain was overall uninterested as the lower officer made his purchases and continued on from stall to stall. When they arrived at the produce district Radian asked if Tesla wanted Chef Joule to make anything special for dinner. He declined, keeping his eyes peeled for signs of the Straw Hat Pirates. Hopefully they had already replaced 0543 and 0544 or were searching for suitable replacements and not still seeking them out.

                Although even if they were, it wasn’t as if they would be able to pin it on him.

                They wound their way to the rougher parts of the city, where it would be easier to come across some of the shadier but more profitable pawn. They had come across some treasure stores during their last acquisition of research grants, and Tesla wanted it converted into berries. The scientist had Radian stop to double check their inventory one last time in an open but secluded alley as Tesla sat on a crate, waiting impatiently for Radian to finish.

                “Finished?”  
                Radian wanted to snap that if double-counting was so important they should have done it before they left the ship, but his eyes caught a glimpse of movement nearby. “Someone’s there, sir,” he said. Tesla turned his head in mild disinterest as a shadow on the wall started to move, and a figure sat up, yawning and stretching.

                _Fuck._

                The sleepy gaze of Portgas D. Ace turned to look at Tesla and Radian, who promptly threw his arms into the air and screamed. “Ah! Ah! Ah! It’s one of Whitebeard’s men! Ah! Ah! Ah! Please don’t kill me! AHHHHH!” Tesla smacked his subordinate on the back of his head while the second division commander looked at them in confusion, blinking as he stood and rubbed his eyes.

                “I’m not going to kill you – I’m not even sure who you are,” he said. Tesla was ready to sigh with relief when his eyes locked with the other pirate. The pirate stared at him stoically, crossing his arms and sitting on a nearby crate. “Dr. Thomas Tesla, captain of the Science Pirates,” he said dryly. “Fancy seeing you here.”

                Tesla stood his ground and crossed his arms. No need to get into a fight with one of Whitebeard’s right hand men. Tesla didn’t consider himself an enemy of the most powerful pirate organization in the world, but his relationship with the man was complicated. Certainly he got the idea that Whitebeard didn’t approve of what he did, but he did nothing to stop him either. After all, Whitebeard had more important things to do than hunt after a ten million dollar head.

                Unless, of course, Tesla experimented on a Whitebeard pirate or a pirate associated with the Whitebeard Pirates. There was a short letter and a graphic photo sent to the Newton one day describing what would happen to the Science Pirates if Tesla so much as looked at a Whitebeard Pirate the wrong way. As such, Tesla was careful to avoid Whitebeard’s allies and, when he did lure one onto the Newton, they were released with bellies full of food and rum and half their weight in gold to keep them happy and Whitebeard far, far away from his operation.

                As such, Fire Fist Ace was not someone Tesla would freely associate with.

                “Fancy seeing you here as well, Portgas,” said Tesla. “I trust the old man is doing well?”

                “Yes, he is,” said Ace. “What brings you to Water 7?”

                “Supplies,” Tesla said. “I am in no need of test subjects, if that’s what you’re insinuating.”

                Ace scoffed. “Good. Because you know what’ll happen if-“

                “Of course. There are no Whitebeard Pirates on my ship at this time and the last one who set foot on my ship left after a lovely roast beef and brandy dinner. I believe he passed the recipe on to Newgate’s personal chef,” said Tesla. Perhaps making pleasantries with the young man was the best course of action.

                Ace continued to glare coldly at Tesla. “It was delicious.”

                “Glad you enjoyed it.” Tesla signaled Radian to be on guard.

                “Right.”

                “So is this Whitebeard’s territory now, too?” Tesla asked. If it was Whitebeard territory, he needed to get out of there ASAP. “If he were to declare Water 7 as his own it would infuriate the World Government – I’m under the impression that they like having Galley La and Iceburg at their beck and call. Power play on his part?”

                Ace snorted. “I’m not acting on Whitebeard’s behalf right now.” He chuckled. “Although don’t get me wrong – I’m keeping an eye out for a former subordinate of mine whom I need a rematch with, but right now I’m helping out my kid brother with something.” He closed his eyes and shook his head. “Whitebeard is my father, but I’ve still got a soft spot for the little brat even if he’s not one of ours.”

                Tesla sighed. Family relationships were arbitrary at best. He saw no point to them. “Whatever.”

                The man who ate the Fire Fire Fruit turned his back on Tesla. “The old man thinks your slime.”

                “I’ll take the insult with honor, Fire Fist, but I assure you – I have not done ANYTHING to upset Whitebeard,” said Tesla, holding up his hands. “I’ve researched the crew – the Straw Hat Pirates have NOTHING to do with Whitebeard and-“

                Tesla suddenly found himself several inches off the ground, his back slammed into a nearby wall, and Fire Fist Ace’s hand around his neck. Flames flickered in the younger man’s eyes as he squeezed. “So YOU’RE the scumbag who took my kid brother’s crewmates?! What did you do to them?! Bring me to your ship RIGHT NOW or I’ll-”

                _Oh, FUCK._

Before Fire Fist Ace could retaliate any further, Radian had already snuck up behind the angry pirate and started massaging the underside of his skull. Ace froze, his body relaxed, and he collapsed to the ground, dropping Tesla in the process. The scientist fell to his knees, breathing heavily as he stared at the unconscious form of the Whitebeard commander.

                “Captain?” Radian asked.

                “You erased it?” asked Tesla. He swallowed nervously. Damn it, he hadn’t planned for that! The Straw Hats WERE associated with the White Beard Pirates – at the very least, they were associated to Portgas D. Ace. Which one? He wasn’t sure. At the very least it didn’t seem like he was the elder brother of 0543 or 0544. It didn’t matter – he was going to need to further investigate this relationship to determine exactly what was going on.

                It was a good thing his navigator had eaten the Wipe Wipe Fruit.

                Radian nodded solemly. “As always, just the last ten minutes – let’s hope he was already asleep ten minutes ago or he may be suspicious that he’s missing his memories. Otherwise, he’ll wake up in a little while and think he slept through his entire nap,” said the navigator. He turned to his captain. “Should we be concerned? Should we surrender 0543 and 0544 back to the Straw Hats? If they find out and they tell White Beard-” Tesla held up his hand. “Sir?”

                “You’ve erased his memory. Correct?”

                “Yes, sir, but-”

                “We don’t know how official this tie to the Straw Hat Pirates is. Fire Fist could be acting on his own – if he is, the old man might not have an investment,” said Tesla. “It is unlikely that Straw Hat or Fire Fist would understand the importance of our research and would likely retaliate against us even if we were to return them. Furthermore, and most importantly, 0543 and 0544 are too valuable – valuable enough to risk such an alliance.”

                “Understood, sir,” said Radian. Tesla nodded, and the two men returned Portgas D. Ace to his previous position. The navigator cleared his throat and stood at attention before Tesla. “Shall I stay here and observe them in the event that he does remember what happened? Perhaps I can also overhear valuable information about the Straw Hats and Whitebeard’s relationship.”

                Tesla nodded. “Yes. Do so.”

 

                Radian returned to the ship several hours later while Tesla and Curie were sitting down to dinner. Tesla put down his knife and fork. “Well?”

                “Straw Hat found his brother in the alley – Fire Fist had no recollection of our conversation. He thinks he had a dream, but cannot remember the details. I learned no information about a formal alliance between the Straw Hats and the Whitebeard pirates – oddly, it seems as if Fire Fist was listening to his younger brother as if he were serving under him.”

                “How odd,” said Curie. “Why would someone like Fire Fist Ace bother listening to someone of such low caliber? Certainly Monkey D. Luffy has garnered quite a bit of attention and a high price on his head but he’s certainly not in Portgas D. Ace’s league.”

                “I thought about it and picked up few newspapers,” said Radian. He produced several newspapers from a bag slung over his shoulder. “It would seem like Fire Fist is indebted to his younger brother – the Straw Hats broke into Impel Down and successfully freed, amongst many others, Portgas D. Ace, who was scheduled for execution.”

                “And his ties to Whitebeard?”

                “Unclear, but Straw Hat didn’t seem very concerned with White Beard when he spoke with Fire Fist. I didn’t dare follow them to learn more – I did not want to attract suspicion – but I doubt the existence of a formal alliance between the two factions. In my opinion? The only affiliation that exists is between Fire First and the Straw Hats at this time – I do not believe Whitebeard is part of the equation,” said Radian. Tesla offered him a seat at the table as well as a plate. Radian accepted and continued his report. “However, I would still regard the situation with caution – there is no way to know for sure if Fire Fist will not turn to White Beard for assistance.”

                Curie paused, turning away from the men for several moments before turning back to Radian. “On what day was Impel Down broken into?” she asked. She straightened her glasses and crossed her legs. “Was it before or after we obtained the current test subjects? Knowing when this alliance began may be useful.”

                “At least a week or two after,” said Radian. He looked over the papers, looking for the date. “It was late February, that I know for sure.” He relaxed, organized the papers, and helped himself to the dinner meal after a quick nod from Tesla. “What’s the importance of knowing when Fire Fist Ace was taken from Impel Down?”

                Tesla grinned. “It means that we would have a leg to stand on against Whitebeard. We obtained the specimen on February 1. At that point in time there was no record of any kind of alliance or connection between the two factions. Therefore, when we obtained 0543 and 0544, we were keeping to our unspoken agreement to leave the Whitebeard Pirates alone and it isn’t our fault that an alliance was formed after the fact. It isn’t as if every pirate crew we have sampled subjects from has suddenly allied with Newgate – there was no precedent and no suggestion it was something we needed to concern ourselves with.”

                “I think even with that argument he would still be angry,” said Curie.

                “Which is exactly why we must be extra sure not to let any knowledge of 0543 and 0544 escape,” said Tesla. He turned to Radian. “Inform the crew that if anyone so much as talks about 0543 or 0544 outside of the ship, no matter the context, they will be terminated. Have I made myself clear, Radian?”

                Radian nodded, got up from his seat without touching dinner, and went to deliver the message.


	15. 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sanji has a hallucination different from those he's had before.

                Sanji’s illness had been over for a while, but the scientists let them keep the blankets – at least for the time being. The cook wondered how long it would be before those were taken away but didn’t say anything about it. After breakfast they neatly folded them and put them in the corner where the door went when it was opened. Nami suggested that if they were out of sight the scientists might not think to take them away. Or, for all they knew, someone was cleaning the cell when they were gone, cleaning the blankets or replacing them with clean ones, and putting them in the corner out of some sick desire to humor them.

                Like it mattered. It was nice having them. It didn’t make the floor or the benches any softer but they were warmer than the cold floor, and the cell could definitely get chilly. Normally that was an invitation for them to get sick, but everything was so sterile that Sanji was half certain most of the germs died before they even got close to them, and at least one day every couple of weeks or so was solely dedicated to a head to toe physical for each of them. Tesla wasn’t going to take any chances with them getting sick and that was that.

                For the time being, Sanji was alone in the cell. Nami would probably be returned soon enough – as long as they got back within fifteen minutes of each other or so then generally nothing really bad had happened – at least, not like the ice test. He’d only been there about five minutes, so the scientists had about ten minutes left to bring Nami back to him before he started to panic.

                The sound of the door clicking open announced Nami’s arrival – she was shoved in and two trays of food were skidded across the floor before the door was locked. Sanji pushed himself off the floor to check on Nami, who shook her head. “I’m okay, Sanji-kun,” she said. She swallowed. “As okay as I can be, I guess.”

                “It can’t be much longer,” Sanji said quietly.

                Nami shook her head. “No, of course not.”

                It felt funnier and funnier every time they said it now.

                But even fading hope was better than none.

                Sanji arranged the trays on the floor and they started to eat. They informed each other of which tests they’d had that day (Sanji had been given injections and a reflex test, Nami had had been left on an IV and then put on a treadmill for an hour) and tried to think of something else, anything else, to talk about.

                They’d discussed a lot during the course of their capture, once they started speaking with each other again. They talked about the crew and what they would do when they got back, although what they each wanted to do when they returned was changing for each of them over time. Sanji suggested he was going to go looking for a one night stand, but was now craving the kitchen more than anything else. Nami had planned on stealing everything that wasn’t tied down to Tesla’s ship, but now she was more interested in getting back to her map.

                They talked about books they had read and discovered the last week that they shared a favorite poet – Imaki Imahara. Nami couldn’t believe Sanji was familiar with him – he wasn’t Robin’s taste and most of the other male Straw Hats weren’t avid readers. But being able to discuss Imaki’s work in depth with someone who’d read most of his work and the resulting debate over which of his collections was better had been intense enough that they’d both actually forgotten where they were for a solid ten minutes.

                But tonight their conversation was starting to run dry.

                Nami watched Sanji eating, noting for the twentieth or so time how careful he was to eat everything they were given. She considered herself thorough as well, but not to the extent the cook was. His bowl and his fork were picked clean, and only they did he consider himself done. She knew he was big on not wasting food, but she never heard the whole story – just that he’d starved for a bit as a child. She never knew how long. Two, three days? Maybe a week? It couldn’t have been much worse than that.

                So she asked him.

                Sanji looked at her in surprise. “I never told you about how I met the old man?”

                Nami shook her head. “No, you didn’t. Does that have something to do with it?”

                “It has . . . everything to do with it.” And so Sanji told her about how he used to be a picky eater when he was a child, even when he was an apprentice chef on the _Orbit_ , and how Zeff’s ship attacked theirs in a storm one night, and how that somehow left them stranded on a rock with no food and water. Nami listened intently as Sanji described his starvation, finally understanding that Sanji’s efforts to prevent food from being wasted were not from a simple fear of having to go without, but from the memory of nearly dying because of it.

                Nami was glad her dinner was done when he finished, because she wasn’t sure she would have been able to stomach eating after hearing his story. It made her feel guilty that she had as much food as she did, and she stared at Sanji sadly, trying to decide what to tell him. She felt awful about the whole thing, but she couldn’t think of the right thing to say.

                All she could do was stare in horror at him. She could almost feel her eyes begin to water, but between the various drugs they were constantly being siphoned or exhaustion, she couldn’t quite start crying, and the sensation made her feel ill. Ever since this mess had started, the two of them had gotten so close – far closer than she had been with Robin or Vivi, and it was some kind of strange torture that she couldn’t emote in reaction to the horrible story he’d just told her. Knowing that he’d gone through that kind of hell made her feel ill.

                Sanji stared back at her, a blank look on his face. “It’s okay – you don’t have to say anything.”

                Nami swallowed. “I want to. But I don’t know what.” She clenched her fists. “I can’t find-”

                “The look in your eyes tells me enough. Not all feelings can be expressed in words.”

                The navigator hugged Sanji. “None of us . . . not even the others . . . has a happy past.” Memories of Arlong brushed against the corner of her mind, and she shuddered uncomfortably. Even knowing Luffy had defeated him and he was rotting somewhere in the bowels of Impel Down or wherever they threw him, part of her was still deeply bothered by everything he had done to her. It wasn’t something she thought she dwelled on, but the memories still hurt.

                “But that’s why we need to keep moving forward towards happy memories.” She rested her head on his shoulder. “Somehow. Right?” Sanji hesitated, but slowly nodded in agreement. It would take some time, but it certainly WAS possible. “We got through Arlong and nearly starving to death. We’ve gone through horrible stuff before. So we can get through this.”

                Nami closed her eyes and felt herself beginning to drift off on Sanji’s shoulder.

 

                Sanji laid Nami down and covered her with one of the blankets. He sat by her, watching the walls as she slept, her hand still gripping his even in sleep. _Funny. I’ve wanted to be close to her since the day I met her, and now that we are . . . bah. Why did it have to be like this? She doesn’t deserve this. I wonder . . . what would have happened if it had been one of the others who’d been captured with her instead of me?_

                He hated to admit it, but what if maybe Zoro could have done something better than he did?

                The room began to pulsate.

                Sanji fell backwards, looking around the room in confusion and aw as the walls and ceiling began to pulsate around him. “What the fuck?” he said. He looked around in terror, trying to figure out why the cell was starting to move around them. As awful as it was it was the closest thing they had to “home” in this horrible place and having it suddenly begin to pulsate did not sit well with him.

                _This has got to be some kind of freaky hallucination. Damn it! Not another one!_

                The pulsation began to get faster, and the sound of metallic banging started ringing in his ears. He covered his head and tucked his chin to his chest, quietly pleading for it to stop. But he could feel the vibrations all around him, and wondered if the walls were going to cave in around him. He clenched his teeth, afraid of what was going to happen.

                He felt something brush up against his leg, and he screamed.

                Nami jolted awake as Sanji sat panting in the cell, looking around in a panic. The room wasn’t pulsating and whatever it was that had brushed against his leg was gone. “Sanji-kun!?” she asked. The cook turned to the navigator, shaking. “Did you have another hallucination?” He hesitated, staring at her for several seconds before he nodded.

                The navigator sighed, wrapping the other blanket around Sanji’s shoulders. “You need to get some sleep, too. Okay?” Sanji nodded slowly, lying down next to her. Nami wrapped her arms around him and settled in to sleep. He closed his eyes and tried to get some shut eye as well, but he couldn’t get over how real this hallucination felt.

                Especially that thing against his leg.


	16. 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sanji sees signs that the experiments are starting to take a serious toll on their bodies.

                They had been there for around four months  – some time ago Sanji had seen a calendar with some date in late May, and that had been some number of days ago. They were starting to lose count of the days as the routine began to swirl and mash together. There was nothing to keep track of time in the cell – not even the empty toilet paper rolls remained to keep track of how many they’d gone through. No chalk to tally off days. Nothing. Not that it really mattered: how would knowing what day it was help them?

                Nami had said it might be more depressing to have a constant reminder of how long it had been.

                Still, it was sometime around the four month mark that the cook started to realize just how bad things were getting. His initial evaluation of what he was about to learn was troubling enough on its own, but the diagnosis was pointing to a bigger, grimmer picture.

                On that morning he’d been given breakfast, taken from the holding cell, given an eye exam, a blood draw, numerous shots and pills, and then lo and behold it was time for Sanji’s “favorite” sample collection.

                Tesla wanted to make sure everything – and he meant EVERYTHING – was tested, so Sanji had noticed that every couple of weeks they wanted to collect semen. At first Sanji thought that one wouldn’t be so bad –he could do the job just fine in a bathroom. Instead they had a shot that made his body do it for them.

                Not to mention the scientist in charge of it was a greasy fat old guy.

                Oddly, though, it didn’t seem like it had been that long since his last “collection” had taken place. Sanji figured it was probably him losing track of time and not the scientists wanting it earlier. It was irritating. He didn’t LIKE the idea of these people messing around with his sperm and he especially didn’t like that the Greasy Fat Old Guy was the one doing most of it.

                Greasy Fat Old Guy took the sample and brought it under a microscope. The cook sighed from his position on the table – when he got out of there he was seriously considering cruising some taverns for a one night stand (or maybe something more). As much as the Love Cook hallucinations were forcing him to re-evaluate his views on the fairer sex, it didn’t change how frustrated he was getting. The female scientists sometimes - not on purpose, he guessed - gave him just enough of a view to keep his sex drive from completely dying and it was driving him a little mad. He couldn’t keep his eyes off of them – even if they were hurting him, even if they were hurting Nami, he couldn’t deny that they were women and he couldn’t deny that they sometimes had very nice butts.

                Then there was his roommate – previously his favorite girl to fantasize about, now he wasn’t so sure where he stood. Sanji still considered Nami pretty and she still had a nice figure, but he hated the idea of getting turned on by her in their current situation. There was nothing sexy about Nami crying nearly every day after being tortured. Once they got out of there? Sure – it would be nice to see her smiling in the sunlight or wearing a pretty dress and enjoying life again. But at that point? It just wasn’t comfortable.

                Not to mention they’d formed a strong platonic bond – she was definitely his best friend now more than anything else. Sanji had never had one of those before, male or female. Certainly he would occasionally have guy talk with the other chefs at the Baratie or casual chit chat with the other Straw Hats, but he couldn’t open up with them like he could with Nami. He wasn’t sure that was something he wanted to risk. If things developed on their own between the two of them, so be it. If they didn’t, so be it as well.

                Though the other Straw Hat men didn’t know it (or at least probably didn’t think it), he was ultimately searching for the woman who would end up being the one, then they could get married and be in love and have kids and he could take them fishing with him in All Blue and they’d be shouting “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, look at the fish we caught!” Then they’d all go back home, he’d teach them how to properly prepare them, and they would all grow up to be chefs just like their old man and definitely not turn out to be swordsmen. When the kids were in bed he and his wife would spend time together – just the two of them – and do cheesy married couple things like playing cards or going to the theatre or whatever.

                It wasn’t something he talked about a lot. Sure, he was a pervert at times but he was certain he’d been worse the last couple of months with the other Straw Hats because of the drought he’d been suffering. Ultimately he did want to settle down (well, perhaps a little – maybe not a physical house but maybe a smaller, family-sized ship) and get married – he wanted to share his life with someone. The idea of falling hopelessly and madly in love with a woman was appealing. Sleeping around could be fun and all but it wasn’t so great when they were rushing to leave the next morning and they told each other they’d keep in touch when they both knew it probably wouldn’t happen.

                With marriage, as Sanji understood it, she’d be there in the morning. There would be no rushing around for one of them to leave – it would be their bed, too, after all. More so than that, they would be someone he could take on dates and romance whenever he wanted to, and she wouldn’t try to throw a shoe at him or something because she’d like it.

                Zeff had been married, Sanji knew – it was something the old man only brought up with him once, but he’d married when he was very young. He’d been very happy with her and they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together. They would go look for All Blue together, open up a restaurant, and raise a family for themselves.

                She’d been killed in an accident. She’d been pregnant.

                Zeff never so much as glanced at another woman that way again.

                Tesla walked into the room. Sanji suppressed a groan. The man in charge of their torment didn’t show up that often but when he did it was USUALLY pretty bad news. He squirmed uncomfortably on the table. Maybe this was just Tesla checking in this time to see how things were going – maybe they weren’t going to start some horrible new procedure.

                “Are the results the same as last week?” Tesla asked, glancing over Greasy Fat Old Guy’s shoulder. Sanji lifted his head to try and get a better look. What was he talking about? Why was he talking about whatever it was while looking at THAT sample of all things? He felt a knot twisting in his stomach. This did not sound good.

                The greasy scientist looked up. “Exactly the same. I’d say it’s permanent.”

                Sanji heard the diagnosis and felt the world stop. _No. No, he’s got to be lying! That can’t be true!_

                Tesla gestured for Greasy Fat Old Guy to step aside and looked into the microscope. He lifted his head. “Hmm. So it would seem. Make a note of that on his file – we’ll need to start another test to see what caused it. I’ll confer with Curie and we’ll decide how to continue testing from here on out. We may not need this sample anymore.”

                “Should we try to fix it?”

                Tesla shook his head. “What would be the point of that? We don’t have a need of it, and he certainly won’t have a need of it. It’s not a necessary life function – if it was his heart or his lungs or one of his other major organs I would be concerned. This is nothing.” He patted the other scientist on the shoulder. “Continue as normal.”

 

                Nami was returned to the cell to find Sanji curled up in the middle of the floor, sobbing and hugging himself. “Sanji-kun?” she asked once the door had been slammed shut and locked tight. She started to walk towards him. “What happened?” Her heart raced. What had they done to him? “Sanji-kun? Please, tell me.”

                He sniffled. “Leave me alone.”

                Nami stood by his feet – she had no intention of leaving him alone like that. “Sanji-kun.” Ignoring his request to be left alone, she sat down by his head and rubbed his shoulder. “It’s all right, Sanji-kun.”

                He shook his head, refusing to look at her. “No, it’s not.”

                “What happened?”

                Sanji swallowed. He didn’t shove away her hand, but refused to look at her. Nami continued to sit and listen patiently. She’d gotten good at it. “They . . . ran some tests and I . . . one of the drugs . . .” he pulled himself into a tighter ball. “I didn’t . . . I didn’t . . . I didn’t think that anything would get . . . broken. I thought . . . oh God Nami I . . . I don’t think I can even say it.”

                “I’m right here, Sanji-kun.”

                “They don’t think I could . . . I can’t . . . I’ll never get to . . .” He finally rolled over and looked up at her. “Nami-san . . . I can’t have children anymore.” He clenched his eyes shut and clenched the bottom of her gown. “I always thought . . . you know, when I found the right woman . . . I could settle down and we could raise a family . . . I can’t have that anymore. I’m sterile.”

                Part of Nami wanted to smack him – how the hell was that important now? But there was a sort of dead look in Sanji’s eyes, and she realized this was something valuable to him. Odd. She never would have taken him for the family type. She always figured he would be a bachelor for life, trying to sleep with whomever he pleased (though she wasn’t sure how successful he’d be short of finding women with a thing for men with ugly bounty posters or, well, prostitutes) and not tying himself down to one woman.

                Nami started to rub his back. She wasn’t really sure what to say, so she took a guess. “Maybe when Luffy finds us and we get out of here everything will return to normal once you’re off the drugs,” she said. “Or Chopper can fix it. He’ll think of something.” Those two little sentences seemed to help, because Sanji calmed down, although he was continuing to sniffle a little.

                “I hope you’re right,” he said. He sighed, trembling.

                Nami shrugged. “I never really thought about kids, Sanji-kun,” she said. “I know I haven’t had a period for the last two months, but I’m pretty sure I’m not pregnant and that’s the big ‘sign’ that you are.” Sanji blinked at her and she nodded. “It doesn’t bother me much, at least it doesn’t right now. But it looks like you’re bothered by it right now.”

                “Yeah. I am,” he said.  “Am I less of a man?”

                Nami shook her head. “No. I don’t think so.”

                “You sure?”  
                “Yeah.”

                Sanji shuddered a few more times from sobs, then quieted. It took Nami a few moments to realize he’d fallen asleep – either the drugs were hitting him extra hard today, or the emotional draining he’d just gone through was taking its toll. She rubbed his back again, and looked up at the ceiling. Between the two of them, Sanji was crumbling the fastest. First the shock collar, now this . . .

                Nami wasn’t doing much better than he was, but she wasn’t under the constant threat of electrocution. No one had discovered whether or not she had a barren womb. And she hadn’t been one of the strongest, fiercest members of Luffy’s crew. She was losing strength just like Sanji was, but the fall she was taking was from a much lower ledge.

                She laid down next to him and wondered how long it would be until someone caught them.

 

                Tesla looked over the latest results from 0543 and 0544’s test results and physicals.

                “They’ve been through quite a lot,” the captain said. “They’ve both lost quite a lot of weight and there’s a slight but noticeable decline in their physical strength – even for 0544, whose bounty was close to the Supernova range. 0543 has ceased menstruation and 0544 is sterile. The only one of the two who has seen any kind of improvement of health is 0544 since we took those blasted cigarettes of his away.”

                Curie leafed through their files and put them down. “Much of what you’ve described can be attributed to side effects from the treatment and perhaps a lack of proper nutrition as well. They also haven’t seen the sun since we captured them or gotten proper exercise. We do not know if these are side effects of the Devil Fruits or not.”

                Tesla nodded. “Perhaps, but we can’t rule it out, either.”

                “Indeed.”

                “We’re going to make this work, Curie – these are the only two subjects who had survived this long. It’s been over four months – these results are unprecedented,” said Tesla. He leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands together. “Once we get the results we need, I’ll present them to those idiots running the World Government. Once they realize the value of my work they’ll revoke the bounty on my head and we’ll be respected members of the scientific community.”

 

                Sanji woke up to the sound of his least favorite recurring hallucination.

                The Love Cook was sitting on one of his benches, casually smoking and blowing a ring to the left. “Sheesh. Some man you are. If your swimmers were that weak they couldn’t handle a few drugs then maybe it’s better this way,” he said, his voice flippant and callous. His legs were crossed and his idly wagging his foot as he enjoyed his cigarette.

                “Shut up,” Sanji said. “Don’t you understand what this means?”

                The Love Cook snorted. “The swordsman has a better chance of procreating than you do?”

                Sanji wanted to slam him into a wall, but settled for sitting up instead. “What do you want?”

                “I’m part of you – I have every right to be here.”

                “Go away.”

                “What, just because you’ll be shooting blanks from now on you’re all pissy? Grow a pair.”

                Sanji gripped the edge of his shirt. “It’s more than just that. Don’t you get it?”

                “As long as you can still get it up-“

                “This isn’t about that!” Sanji said, although he had to admit, now that the Love Cook mentioned it, he wondered if THAT would happen to him, too. “Those fucking scientists BROKE something! My body doesn’t work the way it used to!”

                “Dumbass, they did that the day you were brought here. You ate a Devil Fruit, remember?”

                “Oh yeah, well what’s next? I’m not a doctor, but what if something else fails? I want my fertility back but I don’t need it to live!” Sanji narrowed his eyes at the Love Cook, who was looking at him strangely as he explained. “What if they give us something that screws with our kidneys, or our livers, or our lungs or our hearts? Shit, they’re giving us something that’s fucking with our brains – why else would you be here?”

                The Love Cook rolled his eyes while Sanji felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. They were given injections and pills daily. It was screwing with their bodies – he knew he was sterile and it sounded like Nami may have been rendered barren by the scientists as well. Too much longer, and he wasn’t sure if Chopper would be able to fix them.

                Little by little, the experiments were shutting down body functions.

                It was killing them.


	17. 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nami has an unexplained hallucination of her own. Tesla's Devil Fruit is revealed.

                Nami woke up the morning after Sanji told her about his sterility feeling groggy and anything but well-rested. Not that she’d gotten a good night’s sleep since being kidnapped, really. Not a single night in a bed since her final night on board the Thousand Sunny. She and Robin had stayed up and talked for a short bit, they settled into their separate beds to do some reading, and then Nami shut off her light to roll over and got to sleep a little after eleven. She woke up feeling refreshed and ready for the day until she learned Luffy had blown all of their money on a puppet show, and then . . .

                The thought made Nami want to start crying. She almost did, and then wondered what the point would be. It wouldn’t make the scientists stop or feel bad for her, there was nothing Sanji could do to help her or himself at this point and even though Luffy was probably trying his hardest to find him (she hoped) her tears wouldn’t reach him, either.

                The only other person who might hear her tears was Bellemere, if she was watching her.

                That made her want to cry, and she thought her eyes were watering when the walls of the cell looking so wavy and unstable, but that was when she realized that her eyes were dry and whatever it was doing that to the walls was most certainly NOT tears. She held her breath and looked around, whimpering in fear.

                She knew what this was – this was a hallucination, like the ones they had all the time. It wasn’t a daily thing, but it happened often enough that sometimes they were able to pick out when they were hallucinating. Other times, the illusion was so strong and so real-looking that they would forget and it would take the other one to pull them out of it.

                She gripped the edge of her blanket, watching the hallucination around her. The walls and the ceiling were moving like waves or curtains, billowing and bucking around her like they were made of cloth instead of steel and seastone. It was terrifying, and she clung to Sanji’s exhausted form, holding on to him for dear life.

                A deep, feral growl blasted though the cell. Nami snapped her head in the other direction and saw the strong, muscular form of a tiger slinking near her, growling at some unseen enemy. The walls had returned to their normal state, but she did not feel safe. The navigator felt herself stop breathing.  _A tiger? Like . . . like that thing I ate?_ The tiger turned to her, its eyes deep amber and his teeth yellow and sharp. She pulled her blanket tight as the tiger started to approach, ready to pounce for the kill and end her miserable existence once and for all.

                “Nami!”

                Nami turned back to face Sanji. The tiger was gone. The room was stable. She started to calm down and remembered it had all been another cruel hallucination. She turned to Sanji, biting her bottom lip. They silently exchanged words, and the cook embraced her, reminding her that somehow, someway, they were going to figure out how to make it all right again.

                The navigator wasn’t so sure that was possible anymore.

 

                There were no experiments that morning, but they could hear gunfire and screaming outside.

                “I wonder what’s going on out there?” Nami asked.

                Sanji shrugged. “They could be fighting Marines who want to bring Tesla in – or bounty hunters. Might be another pirate ship. Or they might be attacking a merchant ship – even if he’s focused on science, he’s still a pirate.” Nami gave an indifferent sigh. She was starting to get hungry, and with all the commotion going outside it was obvious they weren’t getting fed for a while.

                “I’ve been thinking . . . Tesla doesn’t seem like the fighting type. It would almost make more sense for him to be working for another pirate. But . . . he’s the captain. Right?” Nami asked. She looked up at the ceiling, towards the source of the commotion. “So . . . what does he do, exactly? To fight, that is?”

                “Fighting doesn’t seem to be his style – trickery seems to be his forte.”

                “Still, trickery wouldn’t work if you were outright attacked by Marines or other pirates,” said Nami. “If Luffy’s going to rescue us, he’s probably going to have to fight Tesla, too. So what is Luffy up against, exactly?” Sanji looked skywards too, and realized maybe he was having the same thoughts.

 

                Simpletons. All of them.

                It was a passenger ship carrying about fifty passengers who didn’t understand that their money and valuables would be wasted in their own hands on silly whims when compared to the great things he could do for science with them. Most of the passengers had been corralled into the dining hall, and his crew was dealing with the crew and a small band of Marines escorting the passengers to their destination.

                Thus far only a Marine captain and the ship’s first mate were giving the Science Pirates any real trouble. They’d at least knocked out twenty men and killed three for sure. Tesla watched from the _Newton_ alongside Curie, debating his involvement. He’d wanted to get back to work on 0543 and 0544 but the distraction of the battle may have tampered with his research.

                It was better to leave them alone for the day and worry about it tomorrow.

                This didn’t change that he needed more research grants and this ship was being particularly difficult. They’d started the attack several hours ago and what should have been a half hour, one hour tops mission was turning into an all day affair.

                “Should we intervene yet, Captain?” Curie asked.

                Tesla surveyed the situation. He’d held off until now, but watching a fourth man die made him realize that if he wanted this done right he was going to need to do it himself. Furthermore, he was going to need to do some recruiting at the next port. Many of the men still alive would be unable to fight and those who were dead weren’t useful to anybody anymore. “Fine,” he said. “It’s not like we’ll be researching today anyways.”

                Tesla casually walked towards the side of the Newton, surveyed the jump to the other boat, and deftly jumped from one rail to the other as if he were merely avoiding a puddle on a rainy day. The Marine and the first mate paused in their efforts, and Tesla raised his hand. The Science Pirates stood down as the Marine raised his sword to Tesla.

                “Captain Thomas Tesla of the Science Pirates,” the Marine said, a wry grin on his face. “You’re not the biggest fish in these seas, but pirate scum is pirate scum. Surrender now and I’ll see to it that Marineford only puts you in Level 1 of Impel Down.” He took a few steps forward, placing the tip of his sword mere inches away from Tesla’s throat.

                The first mate of the crew was twirling a pair of nunchaku in his hands. “You’ve messed with the wrong ship – my captain may be ill and unable to stand up to you, but I’m more than enough to take down a 10 million bounty head.” He flipped his weapons backward, flinging the loose halves of his weapons over his shoulders and grinning at the Marine. “So do you want the first shot or shall I take it?”

                “You do realize I don’t have time for this,” Tesla said calmly. “I have important research to do and this nonsense has gone on long enough. I will give you one chance to let me leave with my research grant in peace, or you will both suffer the consequences.”

                The Marine laughed. “I’m not backing down against some stinkin’ pirate!”  
                “Me neither!” said the first mate, taking a battle stance.

                “Very well. If you two enjoy agreeing so much . . . perhaps you should shake on it.” Before the Marine or first mate could agree to anything, Tesla dove to the left away from the tip of the sword blade, grabbed the Marine’s free hand, and kicked a nunchaku out of the first mate’s hand. The first mate howled in pain as Tesla grabbed that hand and thrust them together.

                “ _Manus fusion_.”

                Palm to palm, the two hands were fused together and the Marine and first mate howled in pain. Not even so much as a seam remained – bone, blood, and flesh had become one intertwined, painful mass. The pain was severe, only stopping once the fused hands were amputated a week and a half later when the ship made landfall.

                Tesla stood over the defeated men, readjusted his glasses, and turned to his own men. “For wasting my time on these weaklings, there will be no dinner for those of you left standing.” With that, he calmly returned to his own ship. “Bring the research grants on board, and all of you stop being so incompetent.”

                None of Tesla’s men dared to disobey their captain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long absence between updates (for anyone following for the first time on A03). I went to Otakon last weekend and didn't bring my laptop with me.


	18. 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On Nami's birthday, the captives fantasize about what they'll do for her next birthday. Tesla doesn't like when his men believe in "stories".

                “It’s my turn to have a shitty birthday here,” said Nami.

                Sanji was lying on his back, his hands behind his head. “I thought you were found as a baby.”

                “I was, but this is about when the doctor said I was born, and I was little enough that they could make a pretty accurate guess. Bellemere chose July 3 because it was her mom’s birthday,” said Nami. She closed her eyes. “We aren’t even sure what Nojiko’s birthday is and she was talking and walking when Bellemere found her. She just picked one, really.”

                “Are you going to be okay?”  
                “I haven’t had a good birthday since Bellemere was alive. I met Luffy a couple of weeks after I turned 18, so I didn’t even get a chance to have a good one with the rest of the crew,” said Nami. She lowered her eyes. “Even so I don’t know if there’s a point.  It’s not even like it would be my real birthday, and I don’t want people to feel like they have to get me anything.”

                Sanji turned to look at Nami. _I guess it’s not a bad thing she doesn’t want to extort people for money anymore, but this is ridiculous._ “Nami-san, if Luffy and the others threw a birthday party for you – even if it is on the wrong day – they wouldn’t be doing it because they had to. It’s because they care about you and want to do something nice for you.”

                Nami sighed. “Would they?”

                Sanji sat up and put his hand on her shoulder. “Why wouldn’t they? They’re our friends.”

                Nami closed her eyes and thought about it. Maybe Sanji was right, but memories of geysers of money still haunted her. She decided to change the subject. “Yesterday marked five months. It’s July 2, and tomorrow is my ‘birthday’. I’m probably going to get some kind of horrible procedure done to me, and you’re going to get something similar. Then we’re going to have terrible food for dinner, cry ourselves to sleep, and do it all over again tomorrow.”

                Sanji couldn’t argue with that. She was probably right. He looked away. He wanted to say that maybe Fate would give her a birthday present tomorrow and bring Luffy and the others. But it hadn’t happened on any other day since they were taken – why would Nami’s birthday be different? He sat up and gave her a hug. Nami sighed and pressed her forehead into his shoulder. “Someday.”

                “Bellemere used to make us cake on our birthdays – or at least the days we celebrated them.”

                “When we get out of here I’ll make sure you have an awesome birthday.”

                Nami closed her eyes. “Thank you, Sanji-kun, but you don’t have to do that for me.”

                “You’re right, I don’t – but I want to.” He gently rubbed her back. “We’ll have cake and ice cream and friends and we’ll just have a good time. We don’t need to have a giant blow out – just a fun evening. I want to hear you laugh and see you smile, and you should wear a pretty party dress that makes you feel like a princess.”

                Nami looked down at herself. She was getting thinner, and the hospital gown she was wearing today was a pale, moldy green color. The holding cell was chilly and bare – sterile, but it had a sort of dank, dingy feeling to it with all of the grey around. She was having trouble feeling like a princess there. She felt more like a beggar or some kind of boney-shouldered, hideous goblin creature.

                “What color is my dress?”

                Sanji closed his eyes, thinking. “What color do you want it to be?”

                She closed her eyes, thinking hard about it. “Blue. And a white flower in my hair.”

                “Is it a rose?”

                “No . . . maybe a lily.”

                Sanji paused, then nodded. “Yeah, I like that. Or a tangerine blossom.”

                “Yeah,” she said. “What’s on the menu?”

                “Hmm, that’s a good question,” the cook said. He hummed a little, thinking about the menu. Food was his thing – if they were going to indulge in this little fantasy, Nami thought it would be nice for Sanji to have something to savor as well. “We’ll definitely need to have fruit because you love fruit, but I don’t think we should do anything crazy fancy – no duck or anything like that. Something casual and relaxed, give everyone a chance to cut loose a little. So we can all have a good time. Nothing uptight.”

                “So if it’s all appetizers, then my party dress is pretty but probably nothing too fancy.”

                “Probably not, but the trim or maybe a sash could be satin just to give it a little something extra special,” said Sanji. “It definitely won’t be evening length, but cocktail length might be okay.” He pulled away from her and crossed his legs. “We’ll have friends there. Everyone will be talking and laughing and having a good time.”

                “And you?”

                “Doesn’t matter what I’m doing – you’ll be the guest of honor.”

                “No, no, I want you to have a good time, too,” said Nami. “What are you doing?”

                “Well, I’ll probably have to keep an eye on the food and make sure the courses are going out when they’re supposed to, but I think I would really like that – I miss working in a kitchen, and having all that food to cook and plate would be a lot of fun,” said Sanji. “A lot of work, but it’s what I love to do. You’re probably itching to draw a map again or navigate some strange currents, aren’t you?”

                Nami nodded. “Of course I do. But are you going to spend the whole party in the kitchen?”

                “Of course not – I’d make sure I was spending time with you, too. It’s your party, after all.”

                The navigator leaned her head against his shoulder. “Would there be music?”

                “Yes.”

                “And dancing?”

                “Sure.”

                Nami looked at her feet. She hadn’t danced in a long time – probably not since the party on Thriller Bark. She did like dancing. As a thief, she was dexterous and quick and flexible, but there was a certain concentration and seriousness involved – one little slip up could spell disaster. But dancing was different – she could use all of those talents in a care-free, happy way. It didn’t matter if she stepped on a creaky floorboard or didn’t survey everything going on around her.

                “Would you dance with me at the party?” Sanji had his hand over the back of hers. It was almost like he was asking her dance there and then, in the dank cell in their thin gowns and the dimmed lights. “And if you did, what kind of a dance would it be? Formal and slow like a waltz, or something like a tango? Or would you have more than one spot on your dance card reserved for me?”

                “I think so,” said Nami. She turned her hand upwards to return the grasp. “I mean . . . we’re close now, aren’t we? Why wouldn’t we dance?” She rested her forehead against his shoulder. “After all, it’s hard for you, too. You need to have fun at the party as well.” She wrapped her arms around him. “I couldn’t have fun if I thought you weren’t.”

                Sanji leaned forward and rested his face in her hair. It was thin and brittle, almost like straw. Not the soft orange locks she had before. “If you want me to have fun, I’ll make sure I have fun. Okay?” Nami nodded and Sanji rubbed her back. The two sat in the cell in silence until Nami fell asleep in Sanji’s arms and the cook wondered if they would ever get a chance to have that party.

 

                “The men were discussing stories again.”

                Tesla rubbed his temples. “Again? What was it this time?”

                “Sirens, ghost ships, spirit apparitions, that sort of nonsense,” said Curie. She sat down across from him and crossed her legs. “I reprimanded them and had Radian assign them extra latrine duty, but I am curious – why is it that you get so upset whenever they talk about such things?” She straightened her glasses and looked at him intently. “I’m not questioning your wisdom in giving the orders, sir, I just wish to understand the logic behind them. It may help me better enforce them.”

                “What do you mean?”

                “I suppose I’m asking where the harm is in letting them talk about their silly little fantasies in the mess hall or as a way to pass the time on watch. I understand why you feel distressed if their fears cause us to change course, but in their spare time shouldn’t be a problem.”

                “It is a waste of time and energy, and the distractions could cause a fatal human error,” said Tesla. He looked back at a bookshelf in his office, lined with textbooks on biology, human anatomy, Devil Fruit guides, medicine, and research and experimentation methods. “In the end, a man who writes a story about nonsense contributes nothing to the world. The world would have been no better or worse if he hadn’t written the tale. So why put so much effort into something so meaningless? Even menial laborers may contribute to building an important building or servicing a great mind.”

                “But it’s still harmless.”

                “Well, what if they get so caught up in their idiotic fantasies while on watch that they neglect to notice a Marine ship or rocks or something else that we would need ample time to avoid or defend ourselves against? Imagine, if you will, they see something on the water that’s perfectly harmless but, in their simpleton minds, is some sort of boogey-man. In their illconcieved panic to get away from – or move further towards – this nonsense, we may find ourselves in great peril.” Tesla stood and pushed in the chair to his desk. “Most men are too simple minded to be able to handle this kind of balance. Most of the men running this ship are these sort. Therefore, the need to focus their limited abilities on the most important task at hand – keeping us alive.”

                Curie adjusted her glasses. “I see, Captain.” She bowed and exited his quarters.

                Tesla walked away from his desk to look out the window of his room. It was overlooking the port of St. Poplar. The following morning, Radian would seek out supplies from both law-abiding merchants and black market vendors to restock the ship. Much of what they needed was food and drink for the men and the experiments, but there were also necessary medical equipment to grab as well – syringes and sterilization materials, rubber gloves, additional units of medication, and other necessary materials.  Of particular annoyance was 0544’s rare blood type – so far they had had no need to give either of them a transfusion, but they had been trying for several months to find a few pints and none had turned up yet.

                It was one reason why they hadn’t been straying too far from St. Poplar since acquiring the latest pair of subjects. St. Poplar was home to a fairly large black market that might have items such as S RH- available for sale, whereas some of the other larger markets were very far away. Still, it did limit the ports they could visit and the number of islands in the area.

                Water 7 was a bustling metropolis and Tesla’s favorite island to have the _Newton_ repaired at, but his encounter with Portgas D. Ace had scared him away from the island. It seemed unlikely that Straw Hat Luffy would return so soon in his pitiful search for 0543 and 0544 but in the unlikely event they had a connection there he stayed away.

                San Faldo was full of idiots. They wasted their time on frivolous pursuits and he had no patience for them – only when he learned that something good, such as a Devil Fruit, was available for sail did he even bother with it. Pucci, too, was similarly useless – although their food was excellent, Tesla was ambivalent to sweet and savory delights. It was, however, where his kitchen staff had originated from.

                The was a small island with a largely agricultural economy – or so he was told, but the other islands wouldn’t trade with it for some reason – probably a bunch of backwards thinking farmers afraid of change or something. They grew a little of everything but as long as they didn’t willingly trade with him he had no use for the island – he could get food elsewhere and they had no other valuables to speak of.

                Enies Lobby had once been a place to avoid, but was now a pile of rocks and rubble. He still had his men keep a safe distance – even if it was destroyed now, it was once the seat of the World Government’s judicial branch and the risk of Marine boats in the area was too great to bother with. After all,  his research would be unable to continue if he were arrested.

                There was an island heralded for a famous museum of art. Tesla hated even thinking about that island. Paintings and whatever else they put in those places were useless to him personally, although he recognized the value placed on the color smeared canvas was worth something to some idiot with more money than he knew what to do with and little aversion to breaking the law to get one of those paintings. Tesla reconsidered his opinion – maybe he should have some of the men pick out something with bright colors to catch the attention of a potential black market buyer.

                The last island was fond of research, much like himself. It was brimming with scientists who studied physics and chemistry and biology and spent their days debating, theorizing, and practicing the practical sciences. There, Tesla thought, were true men and women of talent. Forget the barbaric ways of most pirates and the Marines – this was the future.

                Of course as long as he was a pirate he wouldn’t be allowed on those shores. Unless, of course, he made a scientific breakthrough so astounding that they wouldn’t have any choice but to stop, look, and marvel at what he’d done. Tesla smirked. He wasn’t there yet, but 0543 and 0544 were by far the closest he’d come to that dream in a very long time.

                Now if only that dream could be realized . . .


	19. 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nami slips out of her restraints and makes contact with Luffy. She's punished for her behavior.

                There had been a loose restraint one day. Nami had noticed right away, but the scientist monitoring her didn’t. She waited patiently, trying not to act like she’d noticed such a huge screw up on their part, until the scientist ducked out for lunch or the bathroom or any number of reasons to leave the room that Nami could care less about.

                With her free hand, she freed her other hand, then loosened the other restraints, and slipped off the table. She stood there in the lab, naked and cold and wondering what to do with this sudden small taste of freedom. She looked around, shaking – from nerves and from a chill, and quickly grabbed the scientist’s lab coat from the back of his chair, quickly bundling herself up in it before she quietly opened the door, looked around the hallway for signs of anyone who might betray her, and went for a little walk.

                It was the first time she’d been able to freely explore and look at the hallways of Tesla’s ship. It was all metal and steel, more like a Marine vessel of war than most pirate ship’s she had even seen. It gave off a cold, dead feeling that sent shivers up and down Nami’s spine and encouraged her to hold to lab coat tighter.

                Every so often she needed to slip around a corner or into an empty room to avoid detection. She would listen to her heart race in his ears and her chest as idly chatting pirates or scientists walked by her hiding place. So far, it seemed, no one had discovered her escape. It hadn’t been too long, and perhaps the scientist watching her had gone on his lunch break. After all, most of the time she and Sanji slept if they were just receiving injections and IV drips.

                _Sanji-kun . . . I wonder where they brought him today?_ Yeah. She needed to find Sanji.

                The thought of escape didn’t even cross her mind. Even if it had, where would she escape to? She had no idea where they were, and no idea where Luffy and the other Straw Hats were. Even if she knew where she was and where Luffy was, how would she get there? She and Sanji-kun had nothing to get a boat with and even if they did, they were wanted pirates – they would probably just be arrested on the spot. And that was assuming they could get to someplace where they could get a ship – if they were on the open sea, even if dry land was within their sights . . . how would the get there?

                There was one room she hid in. It was a small office like room with all sorts of papers and pens and journals and ledgers and desks and chairs – probably where some of Tesla’s underlings wrote up reports. There was a shelf with books on human anatomy and Devil Fruits and medicine, and on a table there was a Den Den Mushi and -

                _A Den Den Mushi._

                It wasn’t Sanji, she realized, but she knew how to contact the Den Den Mushi on the Thousand Sunny. Provided that the number hadn’t changed, she could call Luffy. It had been so long since their disappearance but, well, maybe there was a chance that he was still looking for them. And even if he wasn’t, this would get him to try again, wouldn’t it?

                She closed the door, grabbed the Den Den Mushi, and hid under the table it was sitting on. She slowly started to dial, mouthing the numbers as she went along, and then went quiet as the snail began to ring. She closed her eyes, hoping that Luffy or Robin or Zoro or someone was there and would pick up. If not, this little misadventure would be for nothing.

                A thousand scenarios ran through her head. What if Luffy was mad at them? What if he didn’t want them back knowing that they were Devil Fruit users now and that meant there were too many people who couldn’t swim on board? Maybe no one would be there, or the number HAD changed, and if that was the case then maybe hope was really dead after all.

                Even if Luffy was still looking . . . he wouldn’t know where to go.

                Nami felt her stomach tie itself into knots. Before, Luffy had been a sign of hope. He’d been the only one who could save her from Arlong, and the one who had saved Vivi’s county from Crocodile, and Skypiea from Eneru, and Robin from the world itself. But even though Tesla was a small, weak man compared to any of those other forces, Nami felt herself doubt Luffy for the first time.

                Someone picked up. _“Moshi?”_

                Nami swallowed, wiping away a loose tear from her eyes. “. . . Luffy? Luffy . . . is that you?” she asked, barely keeping her voice above a whisper – she was afraid someone would hear her. She bit her bottom lip and starting wringing the bottom of the lab coat. It sounded like Luffy. She hoped it was Luffy. Maybe Luffy would come and rescue them.

                There was a pause, and Nami held her breath. Had she not spoken loud enough? She was scared to try again but opened her mouth anyways. Before anything could slip out again a loud, cheerful voice emitted from the Den Den Mushi and for the first time in months she felt hope. _“NAMI! Nami, you’re alive!”_

                Nami could hear the sounds of the crew cheering in the background. They were so happy to hear from her. She picked out a couple of voices she didn’t quite recognize but she definitely heard Usopp and Chopper and Franky and Brook laughing and celebrating. She clutched the Den Den Mushi to her chest, listening to the sounds of her happy crew.

                Before she knew it, she was sobbing. She wasn’t sure if she was happy or sad, but her stomach was so tied up in itself she wasn’t sure it could untangle. They were THERE – she could HEAR them – but she wasn’t sure if it was going to do any good. No, no, it HAD to do something – she couldn’t take a risk this big and have it all be for nothing, right?

                _“Nami?”_ Luffy asked.

                “Luffy! Oh God, Luffy, help us!” Nami pleaded, dropping the Den Den Mushi on the floor and leaning forward on her hands and knees, crying at the little device. “You have to save us . . . please . . . Luffy . . . don’t leave us here anymore . . .” She felt her stomach begin to ache. They’d stopped celebrating. They knew they were in trouble.

                Nami heard Usopp’s voice. He sounded quiet and frightened. She sniffled.

“They’re hurting us . . .”

                There was a banging sound followed by a very, very angry Luffy. _“Who’s hurting you!? Where are you!?”_ It took Nami a moment to realize Luffy wasn’t yelling at her or trying to make her upset – he wanted to help but he needed to know where to go to help her.  _“What have they done? Nami, we’re going to come get you and Sanji but you have to tell me where you are!”_

                Nami froze, afraid to speak his name. She swallowed. “Thomas Tesla.”

                There was some loud swearing and a loud slamming noise. Nami recoiled from the Den Den Mushi – she wasn’t quite sure who it was, but they sounded angry. She swallowed and looked at the little snail creature, waiting for something else to happen. She really wished Sanji was here – she was frightened.

                _“What do you mean ‘hurting you’?”_ Luffy’s voice was quiet, a tone that Nami knew very well. If Luffy’s anger was like a storm, and this was the eye of the hurricane – any second the storm would be back in full force. He was pissed – he just hadn’t reached the yelling and screaming and being violent part yet. Tesla didn’t know it but he was very lucky he was far away from Luffy at that instant.

                Nami wiped away a few stray tears. “They’re experimenting on us.” She swallowed and picked up the Den Den Mushi again. How was she supposed to tell Luffy and the others that she and Sanji were Devil Fruit users now? _Don’t be stupid, Nami. Luffy, Chopper, Robin, and Brook all ate Devil Fruits and no one on the crew thinks any less of them._

She had to say it. “They made us-“

                The door opened and Nami shrieked, dropping the Den Den Mushi.

                Nami could hear Luffy scream into the Den Den Mushi as three scientists invaded her hiding spot and spread out around her. Nami continued to scream in response, kicking at them (and inadvertently hitting the Den Den Mushi, sending it sailing across the floor) as the scientists grabbed at her flailing arms and legs.

                “Sedate Specimen 0543!”

                Nami continued to kick and scream, getting one of them in the jaw with the heel of her foot and sending him backwards, howling in pain.”LUFFY!” she screamed, hoping that Luffy could still hear her, as if somehow that would help. “LUFFY! HELP ME!” Two more scientists who came to investigate the commotion joined in on the struggle.

                “Hold her down!” one of the newcomers yelled, and finally three scientists held her in place long enough for someone to inject her with something – presumably a sedative to keep her from further struggling. She continued to scream, especially once the needle was jostled around inside of her arm from her flailing. It snapped off and she wailed.

                “PLEASE!” She wailed. “PLEASE HELP ME! CAPTAIN! CAPTAIN!”

                “Somebody shut her up!”

                The scientists and Nami turned to see Tesla standing in the door frame, looking very angrily at his prisoner. She froze, any further screams refusing to leave her throat but tears continuing to flow freely down her cheeks. He bent down over her. “Has the specimen been contaminated?” he asked one of the scientists. One of them shook his head, and Tesla nodded.

                Tesla stood and walked over to the Den Den Mushi, looking it over until he realized it was on. He motioned to turn it off, and Nami started to scream again. “LUFFY! LUFFY! FIND US! PLEASE! HELP US!” But by the time she was done the Den Den Mushi was off and the sedative began to take effect. Weeping, she stopped struggling at Tesla glared at her again.

                “Take 0543 to the Tank.”

 

_**Oh no . . .**_

**_No, no, don’t do that!_ **

**_Someone help!_ **

**_Somebody do something!_ **

**_Please, somebody stop them!_ **

 

                Nami was removed from the Tank after an hour underwater – or at least what the scientists said was an hour. She gasped for air that didn’t come from the mask provided by the men at the bottom of the Tank, lying on the ground in a puddle. Tesla was standing above her, his arms crossed and his mouth pulled into a tight frown.

                “What made you think you could pull a stunt like that, 0543?” asked Tesla.

                Part of Nami wanted to just shut her eyes stay quiet. He might yell at her, but he’d get bored, have her cuffed, and bring her to the holding cell or back for more experimenting. That would have been the easiest thing to do. That would have been the smartest thing to do. Just keep her head down and not talk back to him.

                Instead, Nami chose to do the stupid thing.

                “My name is NAMI!” she screamed, struggling to try and stand. Tesla backed away and she heard clicking sounds around her. She didn’t care. She was too mad, too sick of being pushed away. “My name is Nami! My mother was Bellemere! I have a sister named Nojiko and Genzo is like a father to me! I am the navigator of the Straw Hat Pirates and they WILL be coming back to rescue me and Sanji-kun!”

                Tesla struck her across the face and she collapsed. She was surrounded by scientists in a second, their chief tormentor staring coldly at her. Nami glared at him, adrenaline feeding her anger and fury as Tesla knelt down to look her in the eye. She gritted her teeth, half tempted to see what her half tiger form could do to his face.

                “Defiant little bitch aren’t you?” he said. “I thought you were the docile one. Guess I was wrong.” Her hands were jerked before her as Tesla stood and she was given seastone handcuffs. She screamed and tried to struggle. The captain ignored her and turned to his subordinates. “I want her in the Tank for another hour. Curie, you and I need to talk about 0543 and 0544’s defiance.”

                “YOU DIED THE DAY YOU HURT ME AND SANJI-KUN! LUFFY WON’T LET YOU LIVE!”

                Tesla kept his back to her as Curie walked alongside him. They heard a splash, and 0543 quieted.

 

                Sanji hadn’t reacted strongly to their situation in a long time: it hurt and it sucked, but it was the same hurt and suck for the most part. But when he returned to the holding cell to see Nami lying bruised and injured and, more importantly, soaked, sobbing and crying in a puddle on the floor, he knew something worse than usual had happened.

                Nami had been given the Tank.

                “No, no, no!” He dove to the floor next to her, skinning his knees – he ignored the injury for the moment, more worried about her. He paled when he saw a black metal band around her neck nearly identical to the one he wore. Whatever she’d done, Tesla was pissed. “Nami-san! Nami-san _!” Damn him! Damn him!_ Part of him wanted to try and remove the shock collar but he was afraid it would go off and hurt her. He wondered if Tesla had used it on her yet.

                Nami was shuddering from the cold and from being wet, but Sanji was slightly convinced some of it was from the collar as well. Feeling like an idiot for not drying her sooner, he grabbed one of their blankets and wrapped it around her – he’d figured out how to dry it later. She looked up at him while he tried to pat her dry, her bottom lip quivering, and threw herself on him. He rubbed her back, trying to soothe and console her. She clung to him tightly. “It’s all right, you’re not in the Tank, I’m here . . .”  

                Nami pulled herself into his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck to start sobbing into his shoulder. “Please . . . please . . . don’t let me go . . . please . . .” Sanji held her as tightly as he could, rubbing her back and trying to soothe her. Not that this did much good anymore. She clung to him tighter and cried.

                “What happened?” he asked.

                “I . . . I got out,” she said. She sobbed. “There was a loose strap and I got out and I found a Den Den Mushi.” She looked up at him, her eyes red and watery. “I called Luffy. I talked to Luffy. He knows we’re alive but . . . they found me while I was talking to him and . . .” She collapsed into his shoulder again, unable to go on. Sanji could piece together enough of what happened next. Tesla probably found out about her escape, got angry, and threw her into the Tank for who knew how long.

                . . . but she’d talked to Luffy.

                Sanji wasn’t sure how to handle that information. She’d talked to Luffy. She’d TALKED to Luffy. She’d TALKED TO LUFFY! He held her tighter. “It’s okay – that means Luffy is coming for us, right?” He lifted her chin and nodded at her. “Luffy’s going to find us. He’s going to get us out of this place and everything’s finally going to be okay again.”

                Nami doubled over in tears. “How!? He doesn’t know where we are! How is he supposed to find us when he doesn’t fucking know where we are?! He isn’t going to find us! He doesn’t know what this ship looks like or anything! Sunny could pass us a dozen times and they would never fucking know we’re here!” She looked at him through blurry eyes and collapsed into his arms.

                Sanji wanted to tell her Luffy would find a way, but it was getting harder to believe that.

                Even knowing Nami had spoken with him.

 

_**It’ll be okay!**_

**_I know you’re in there._ **

**_And when I figure out how, I will get you out._ **

**_I’m coming for you, Pervy Cook and Sneaky Thief!_ **

**_Please, just hold on!_ **


	20. 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sanji and Nami lose their names.

                “Well, Captain?” Tesla had called Curie into his office

                “The subjects have been a little more resistant as of late,” said Tesla. He placed his glass on the railing. “My guess is that little chat she had with her captain has raised 0543’s spirits, and I believe she shared this with 0544. Now, granted, they aren’t as poorly behaved as they were when we first acquired them back in February, but 0543 has been snapping at the men whenever they use her number. 0544 started up again with that recently as well.”

                Curie sighed. “That is annoying. But could it hurt the results?”

                “That is what I am concerned with. As long as they continue resisting us, it runs the risk that they escape – even if it’s just a little walk around the ship like 0543 seemed to think it was all right to take, it could still interfere with our timeline.” Tesla put his hands together and closed his eyes. “We need to kill their hope.”

                “And how do you plan on doing that, Dr. Tesla?” asked Curie.

                Tesla explained his plan to Curie. She agreed, and they started figuring out the finer details.

 

                Not long after contact with Luffy had been made, Sanji and Nami were brought to the room where they’d initially been force fed their Devil Fruits after the day’s experimenting was over. They looked around, almost able to see themselves so many months earlier, still able to swim, still thinking the ordeal might last a day or two at the most, still their old selves. They were forced to sit down and were strapped in, and then they were left alone.

                “What are they doing to us now, Nami-san?” asked Sanji.

                “I don’t know, Sanji-kun.”

                The door opened and Tesla and Curie came in. The two scientists sat across from them in much more comfortable looking chairs, Curie holding a clip board and Tesla holding two small black boxes they both recognized: the devices that controlled their shock collars. They both sat up straight, as if this was somehow going to deter Tesla from hurting them.

                “I thought this was the best room to conduct this procedure in,” said Tesla. He crossed his legs and put the controllers on the arm of the chair. Sanji and Nami relaxed for the moment. “The moment you stepped onto my ship, you ceased to be the people you were before. You are no longer Black Leg Sanji and you are no longer Cat Burglar Nami.”

                “Screw you ! Luffy’s coming for us! He knows we’re alive and he knows you have us!” Nami said.

                “Luffy’s probably really pissed by now – when he finds you there won’t be anything left of you or this ship!” said Sanji. He grinned. “He hasn’t found us because he hasn’t had a lead to go on. But he’s got your name, and now our whole crew is going to be after your head! You have no idea what it means to mess with the Straw Hat Pirates!”

                “And this is where the problem lies. You’re still insisting after all these months that your captain is going to rescue you, and that your names are Sanji and Nami,” said Curie. “What you fail to realize is that it’s been nearly eleven months since your capture and two and a half months since that pitiful cry for help. No one’s going to come for you, and you don’t need names here. You are 0543 and 0544.”

                “SHUT UP!” Sanji screamed. Tesla reached for the controller and pressed the button. Nami screamed as Sanji was shocked beside her, watching him in terror. The shock stopped, and Sanji was left breathing heavily in his seat, coughing and looking weak. Nami slowly turned her attention to Tesla and Curie, wondering what they wanted.

                Tesla looked Nami in the eye. “Who are you? What is your name?”

                “Nami,” she said. Tesla pressed the button. Nami felt the jolts of electricity race through her body – she shook violently in her seat, her wrists banging into the seastone cuffs and her heart racing. She screamed until the paint stopped and she was left feeling weak and tired in her chair, on the verge of tears.

                Tesla asked Sanji the same question. He responded with his name, and Tesla pressed the button.

 

                They were returned to the holding cell hours later. Neither of them could move, although every so often one or the other would twitch. They were laid out on the benches across from each other, and it was a struggle for them to turn onto their sides to face each other. “I can’t believe he’s doing this.” Sanji felt his body shake, rattling his body against the cold metal of the bench.

                Nami looked at Sanji with tears in her eyes. “I’m so sorry, Sanji-kun,” she whispered. Sanji looked at her in confusion. She sniffled, feeling herself start to cry. Sanji wanted to go to her, but the shock treatments made his body ache too much. “This is all my fault. I’m so sorry. This shouldn’t be happening to us . . . I’m sorry. Please forgive me.”

                “Nami-san,  I thought we agreed we weren’t going to blame each other or ourselves-“

                “No. I’m not talking about Tesla catching us in the first place.”

                The cook looked at her, asking silently.

                Nami clenched her eyes shut. “Remember when I called Luffy?”

                Sanji felt his stomach knot. “What about it?”

                “I . . . I argued with Tesla when he called me the number. He’s doing this because of me.”

                Sanji’s eyes widened. “You think he’s mad,” he said.

                “What else can he take from us?” she sobbed. “Our health, our ability to swim, our friends, our freedom . . . now he wants our names, too? He can’t even let us have that?” Nami held herself. “I really fucked up. I just . . . I just lost it.”

                “We can defend our names. I don’t want to lose mine, either,” said Sanji. He closed his eyes. “I might have done the same thing in your position. Please, don’t blame yourself. I’m not mad.” He shook his head. “I’m not mad, Nami-san. We just . . . we don’t let him win. He’ll give up eventually with this whole . . . number shit. He’s got to.”

 

                The following day was much like the first. The scientists started off with the normal experimental routine before returning them to the room where they had been force fed and now shock treated. Nami looked at Sanji with an anxious look in her eyes. Sanji returned the look, wondering what she was getting at.

                “If it means we don’t get this anymore . . . should we just tell them our numbers when they ask who we are?” asked Nami. Sanji frowned and Nami closed her eyes. “Just for show around them. In the cell we can still use our names. It’ll get him to stop. I don’t know about you but anything I can do to better my situation right now seems really appealing.”

                “I see what you’re getting at, but I don’t like having to sacrifice my dignity for personal comfort.”

                “What dignity and what personal comfort are you talking about?” Nami said dryly.

                Sanji sighed – she had a point. “Luffy knows who has us now. It should be any day now.”

                “Right. It’s just for a little while. Then we can use our names as much as we want,” said Nami.

                Tesla and Curie walked in and sat across from them. “We’re going to take the therapy in a different direction today,” said the captain. He looked at Nami in the eye, held up the remote, and spoke. “Nami.” He pressed the button and sent shockwaves through her body. She screamed, and realized the flaw in her plan.

                _I can’t stop him from using my own name against me . . . oh God . . . what’s going to happen now?_

 

                It was the end of the ninth day of the shock treatment. Tesla had shifted gears slowly over time until the only thing they were doing was the systematic removal of their given names during the course of a day. They couldn’t say their own names anymore, and they wondered how long it would be before they wouldn’t be able to say the other’s name.

                Somehow, they’d gotten on the floor after being dumped on the benches again and were lying a few feet apart. Their breathing was quick and deep, and they were mouthing each other’s names to each other, trying to savor the sensation for as long as they could. If Luffy didn’t show up soon, Tesla would take their names from them.

                Nami reached her hand and arm out towards Sanji. Even if Tesla took her name and Sanji’s name from them, she had to say something before it happened. Sanji looked at her with tired, sad eyes as he grasped her hand, and she felt her eyes beginning to tear up. “Sanji-kun . . . you’re my best friend, you know that, right?” She squeezed his hand tightly and felt him squeeze back. “You’re the only friend I have in the world anymore, and I wanted to make sure you heard that before something happens. I love you.”

                He couldn’t believe his ears. “ . . . what?” She was saying what now?

                She almost scowled at him, then shook her head. “No matter how much they try to destroy us, some things don’t change so easily, do they?” Nami opened her eyes. “Not like a lover – it’s platonic. Idiot.” Sanji smiled weakly in return.

                “It’s been a long time since you’ve called me an idiot. It was kind of nice to hear it.”

                “I could never go back to yelling and screaming at you like I used to.”

                “I could never go back to looking at you like a hungry dog outside a butcher shop like I used to.”

                 Nami felt her voice starting to crack. “Even if we were to escape now . . . even if Luffy were to burst through that door right now and everyone followed us and brought us back to the ship . . . we’re never going to go back to the way we were, are we?” She clenched her eyes shut. “Parts of us really have died. Haven’t they?”

                Sanji swallowed, fighting back his own tears. “He hadn’t killed us completely. Not yet.” He paused, then squeezed her hand. “Nami-san, you’re my best friend and I love you, too.” He closed his eyes and chuckled a little. “Not like a lover. It’s platonic.” Nami smiled at the joke and reached towards his shoulder, gently tapping it with her knuckle. They quietly looked at each other.

                Even a failed attempt at normalcy was still a glimpse of the life they once knew.

                “We still have each other. Even if we don’t have our names, or our dignity, or anything, we have that much.” Sanji struggled to pull himself towards Nami, and pulled her into an embrace.  She rested her head against his collarbone and closed her eyes, savoring one of the last times she’d be able to acknowledge him by his name before Tesla took it away from her.

                “I’m here for you, Sanji-kun.”

                “I’m here for you, too, Nami-san.”

 

                Nearly two weeks had gone by. The experiments had been all but halted while the shock therapy worked its magic on their subjects. They had yelled their old names at him in the beginning, swearing and trying pathetically to resist. Why they cared so much he didn’t know – it wasn’t as it they would have done anything with their lives, so no one would have remembered who they were anyways, and they were 0543 and 0544 now.

                The captain of the science pirates grinned. Really, he was doing them a favor. What would history have remembered them for before? Being pirates? Villains? Now their previously criminal lifestyle would be a mere footnote in textbooks for years to come as students of science learned about what they contributed to the life work of the great scientist Dr. Thomas Tesla.

                He had done them a favor.

                Tesla walked into the holding cell where he was keeping 0543 and 0544. Curie reported that they had finally had a break through, and he wanted to see for himself. They were sitting side by side on the floor, staring at the door in front of them. He squatted before them, and they slowly looked up at him.

                “Tell me,” he said. “What do you call yourselves?”  
                “0543.” She was staring straight ahead, devoid of any signs of emotion or lip service. Her face was sunken in exhaustion, her eyes struggling to shed tears that would not come. It didn’t matter. What mattered was that last bit of defiance from his female test subject was gone, and he would have no more problems with her trying to call her captain for help to try to fight back against his men.

                “And you?” Tesla said, referring to her companion.

                “0544.” He said it stoically, his voice filled with defeat and shame. He had had a high, nearly Rookie ranked bounty on his head before, and he had finally been taken down enough pegs. His will to fight back was gone, and he suspected that many of the more cautious scientists would soon cease to double-check his bonds when conducting their research.

                Tesla grinned. “Excellent.”


	21. 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas comes and goes. 0544 hallucinates the Love Cook again.

                For 0543 and 0544, the days were blending in together. It was hard to tell how much time had passed anymore, and in some ways they couldn’t bring themselves to care. They weren’t talking in the holding cell as much anymore, but they still held each other and slept in the middle of the floor together.

                And then it was Christmas.

                0543 had guessed it was around Christmas when she noticed one of the lab techs was humming a Christmas song. The idea that it was almost that time of year sent shivers up her spine. She had certainly had a lot of difficult Christmas seasons during her unfortunate tenure in Arlong’s crew, but she had a fair number of happy ones as well.

                Her last Christmas with her mother and sister had been bittersweet. There was never a lot of money around during the holidays, but somehow her mother had managed to pull together enough money for a Christmas ham and a new doll – a NEW doll – for each of them. They’d had tangerine cocoa that evening and curled together under a blanket while their mother read them a story.

                Her captain had made her last Christmas . . . interesting, to say the least. It was before the shipwright had joined (and therefore, while they were still on their first ship) when their captain realized what time of the year it was and started making preparations. He’d insisted on having a big Christmas. There were colored lights across all of her tangerine trees and a pile of gifts – mostly things they had all made themselves for each other – under them all. 0544 had hung mistletoe all over the ship, hoping to catch her or the archaeologist underneath. The swordsman slept most of the day with a belly full of brandy and eggnog. Although they weren’t close to a winter island, their sniper made fake snow to line the railings of the ship – he even made a snow man. The other woman on board was still mostly distant from the rest of the crew at that point but seemed to enjoy their celebration.

                This Christmas was going to be torture.

                Directly above their holding cell was where Tesla’s crew was having a Christmas party.

                0544 and 0543 sat on the former’s bench, looking up at the ceiling as the sounds of casual chatter and Christmas music floated down through the ceiling. They had their normal dinner, which was served by a scientist wearing a suit with a festive tie, and nothing else. Not that they really expected anything.

                “I bet they have eggnog up there,” 0544 said. He licked his lips. It had been a long time since either of them had a taste of anything other than the bland gruels and oatmeal and chicken puree they’d survived off of for the past ten, nearly eleven months. “I don’t think about that stuff unless it’s around Christmas . . . but I really like it.”

                “If we ever get out of here I’ll buy you as much as you can drink,” said 0543, resting her head on his shoulder. 0544 rested his head on hers and took her hand, squeezing it.

                Upstairs, there was a burst of laughter after someone told a joke or did something funny.

                “You remember last Christmas?” 054 asked.

  1.                 “How could I not?” 0543 said quietly. “It was wonderful. The first Christmas I’d had in years.”      



                0544 frowned. “Merry was a good little ship, wasn’t she?” 0543 nodded. “There’s something that was just so . . . home-y about her.  Sunny is nice and all but we didn’t really spend a lot of time on that ship before . . .” 0544 trailed off. He didn’t want to think about it. “I miss the both of them. And the people on them.”

                That was when it started to snow in the room. He held out his hand – there were puffs of snow, but they didn’t feel cold. Of course it was another hallucination, but it was much calmer and gentler than most of them. The room had quickly filled with at least a foot of the stuff, and their feet were dangling in it.

                “Aside from Drum, I haven’t seen much snow in my life,” said 0544.

                “Me neither. Drum was only my third snow.”

                “It’s so destructive, but so pretty.”

                “You’re hallucinating something snow related, aren’t you?”

                0544 nodded. “Yeah. At least this one’s calm. It’s just . . . snowing.”

                “Are you cold?”

                “No, I’m not.” He laced his fingers through hers. “Merry Christmas.”

                “Merry Christmas.”

 

                The yuletide celebrations of the scientists soon passed, and it was clear that Christmas had come and gone and the new year was upon them if it’s hadn’t happened already. Not that it mattered – the routine the scientists had for them hardly changed, with someone feeding them and giving them at least their shots and pills every day, but some days there weren’t experiments anyways, so it was hard to tell if one of those pill and shot only days was Christmas or not.

                It didn’t matter. It was time for the test that forcefully activated their Devil Fruits. 0544 could hear 0543’s roaring somewhere nearby. She was probably stuck in either her mostly tiger or half and half form while the scientists observed her desperately try to reclaim her humanity again. He frowned, and was somehow thankful he didn’t have a Zoan in these circumstances. It was hard enough to feel human being one of Tesla’s lab rats – to have a power that really DID make you not human was unsettling.

                0544 sat naked in the testing room, uninterested in the floating foam balls around him. He had pulled his knees to his chest and was resting his forehead on his arms as they lay cross and draped over the bony appendages. He couldn’t bear to look in the stupid mirror anymore. It hurt too much to look at what he’d become.

                He’d always been fairly thin. It had taken him a long time to build up the muscle definition he did have, and even then he was still the one the old man had crawl into those hard to reach places because he was the only one without a gut or a pair of shoulders that would get stuck in those spots. It didn’t bother him – plenty of girls liked his body and he had the notches on his old bed post to prove it.

                Back when he was a pirate, his crew – especially the swordsman – would sometimes accuse him of being a “desperate virgin” with the way he flirted and swooned over women – especially 0543, the princess, and the archaeologist (and the angel, and the secretary-slash-spy, and the dozens of other women he’d encountered during their travels together). Truth be told, the last time he’d been any kind of virgin had been when he was seventeen.

                He used to be good at seducing women. True, it didn’t always end in his room or her boat, but it had happened enough that he was pretty sure he was decent in bed (at the very least he was positive the last three or four hadn’t faked it) and pleasing women was easy for him. Having a well put together appearance and a trim, fit body had helped to attract his previous partners.

                But Tesla had robbed him of that body, of that identity. His hair was dry and mostly split ends, and his skin was rough and fragile. Most of the muscle he had was gone, eaten by his body to offset the lack of proper nutrition they had been getting from the scientists. His skin was paler than it used to be – at least he thought it was – from the lack of vitamins and minerals and he lacked the energy he used to have. He was tired most of the time and lacked even the motivation to try fighting back anymore. He just quietly followed Tesla or Curie or whomever to wherever it was they were taking him.

                This test didn’t hurt physically, but being forced to look at himself was tearing him apart.

                And today, he wasn’t alone.

                The Love Cook was standing by the mirror, smoking a cigarette with a pretty girl on each arm. 0544 didn’t recognize them, but they were generic pretty girls with firm butts and bouncy chests who didn’t look like they had much going on between their ears. The hallucination looked at him with a cruel smirk and blew a smoke ring towards him. 0544 moved away from the smoke and the girls giggled cruelly.

                “You’re a sight for sore eyes,” said the Love Cook. “We should get you laid or something.”

                0544 turned away. “I’m not interested.”

                As he raised his head up, the Love Cook was standing before him, leaning forward with his hands in his pockets. “Why? Isn’t that your favorite thing to do? Isn’t screwing pretty ladies something you’re really good at? And isn’t that the REAL reason you joined that dopey little pirate crew of yours? To land the hot read head with the cold shoulder?”

                He clenched his eyes shut. “I joined them to find that ocean.”

                “And fuck your way around the Grand Line as well. You kinda suck at that.”

                “And how is that important now!?” 0544 snapped, gritting his teeth at the Love Cook. “Shut up. You’re not real. Leave me alone. Unless you want to do something useful I DON’T like having you around!” He ducked his head down and hid under his arms. “Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut UP! I don’t want to deal with you right now!”

                “What about us?”

                0544 opened his eyes and, suddenly, was in a fancy hotel room. He was sitting on a giant bed, fully clothed in one of the suits he used to love wearing, his body back in peak condition his stomach feeling full. Sitting all around him were several beautiful women, all of whom he’d seen before. His eyes widened.

                The first woman had an impossible tiny waist and wide, sexy hips. She was smoking through a cigarette holder and had piles of wonderful, curly blue hair and sharp, gorgeous eyes. She blew a smoke ring into his face. “Don’t you remember me?” she asked. 0544 stared – he vaguely remembered seeing her during the crew’s trip to the desert kingdom and he remembered thinking she was hot, but beyond that they hadn’t interacted very much at all. She reached forward and grabbed his tie. “Our organization would have been a lot more fun if you’d been there with me.”

                “No . . . you were-“

                “What about me?” The girl crawling towards him was wearing an impossibly color outfit with feathers and shapes and a fox-like mask over her eyes. Perched under her mask was a sharp but strangely cute nose. She cupped the side of his face and cooed at him. “It wouldn’t have been so bad if the boss brought you onto our crew – I would have made sure you weren’t lonely.”

                “But . . . what about . . .”

                “You know I wouldn’t have killed you.” The sultry voice of the blonde bomb shell in the black fishnets was behind him. He turned his head and watched her adjust her glasses, then blew a bubble from her palm onto the tip of his nose. He shrank back as she smirked. “After all, I wasn’t done playing with you.”

                “You would have killed-”

                The women vanished as suddenly they appeared, and suddenly 0544 found himself alone and facing Curie. She stood at the foot of the bed, her hair trailing down her back and her lab coat hanging loosely around her shoulders. Beneath the lab coat was nothing but a lacy bra and a lacy pair of panties. She snapped her glasses off and threw them to side before leaning over onto the bed. “Admit it. I’m gorgeous.”

                0544 backed himself against the headboard and Curie advanced on him. “Get away from me!”

                She caught up to him, and suddenly he was back in the room, but the women were gone. It was just him and the Love Cook now. 0544 was backed up against the wall, shuddering and shaking as he looked at the dark reflection of his former self. “What’s the matter? Can’t get it up?” The hallucination swaggered over to the captive and bent down. “If you’d had the chance, you would have fucked every single one of them.”

                0544 shook his head. “No, no I wouldn’t have!”

                “Let’s take a look at some of the ladies you would have GLADLY fucked.” The Love Cook snapped his fingers and Sanji could hear music behind him. He his head to see a  runway in the middle of the room connecting to two black voids covered by red curtains on either end. The Love Cook was sitting in a throne on the other side, a microphone in one hand and a cigarette in the other.

                There was a flash of light and the woman from Baroque Works came waltzing out from one of the voids, her hips swinging widely back and forth as she took each step. “Now let’s take a look at the lovely Miss Doublefinger! She’s hot like the desert kingdom she tried to destroy, wears a size 6, and almost killed your best friend in the entire world. She’s Horrible Woman #1 you would have gladly taken to bed!” Miss Doublefinger twirled around and blew 0544 a kiss before proceeding to the other end of the catwalk.

                “What is this!?” 0544 demanded.

                The Love Cook ignored him and pointed to the opposite side of the walk again. “Let’s give a warm welcome to the overly flamboyant, overly selfish, and overly endowed athletic beauty!” Porche walked out, marching proudly across the stage. “She doesn’t care about anything but her boss and her crew, even if growing that crew means tearing apart the bonds of friendship! Had you and the idiot not worked together, she would have taken off with the little doctor and maybe even your dear, sweet cellmate if she’d been given the chance! It’s Horrible Woman #2 you would have bungled in the jungle, Porche!”

                0544 tried to cover his eyes. “No more! No more!’

                “Oh but there IS more!” the Love Cook said gleely. “Here comes the femme fatale herself, Califa! She’s sneaky and deceitful when it comes to her job as a spy but goes all out when it comes to roughing up her opponents! She tried to keep you from rescuing your archaeologist, tried to kill you, and nearly got away with harming your favorite navigator.” He paused as Califa stopped halfway on the catwalk. “But at least you had tea with her – after all, there’s always time to stop for a beautiful woman, even if she wants you and all your friends dead! Let’s hear it for Horrible Woman #3 you would have had rock your world!”

                “GET AWAY! STOP IT!”

                The Love Cook leapt into the air and landed in front of 0544. “And last but not least let’s meet Horrible Woman #4! She’s smart, she’s cold, she’s got an IQ higher than the bra sizes of all the other women combined! She’s taken your ability to swim, your freedom, your dignity, your virility, your name, and she’s not even done yet! Ladies and gentlemen please welcome CURIE!”

                0544 started to scream, only to have a very real hand slap him and a very real spiked high heel kick him squarely in the chest. He skidded across the floor into the corner, scrapping skin along the way and snapping him out of the hallucination. The Love Cook, the stage, the music, the nonsense, they were gone.

                But Curie was standing above him, rage in her eyes.

                Bleeding and bruised, 0544 looked up at her like a terrified dog.

                “Knock it off! Your screaming and shouting are ruining our observations!” She smacked him across the face, and he stayed still for fear of what else she might do. She grabbed him by the hair and dragged him to his feet. He howled, and Curie pulled his face to meet hers. “You’re going to keep quiet or I’ll make sure you regret it! Do we understand each other!?”

                0544 nodded, tears streaming down his face as Curie threw him onto the ground. He laid there, praying that the beating was over. There was silence in the room, and all he could hear was the sound of his own heartbeat and Curie’s frustrated breathing. He closed his eyes and curled into a ball, shaking in fear and pain.

                “Pathetic.” She dropped her knees and sighed, using her ability to heals the scrapes and cuts he’d gotten from her. 0544 just laid there quietly, still crying, and hoping that she would just go away soon. He felt her spit on his back and slam the door shut. Through tear filled eyes, he watched as the balls floated in the air again, and he curled himself into a ball, his thin frame wracked with sobs as he caught a glimpse of a gruesome sight in the corner.

                The Love Cook was lying in a pool of blood, a demented grin on his face.

                He was dead.

 

                Later that evening, after 0543 and 0544 had been returned to the holding cell and fed their dinner, Tesla called Curie into his quarters for a meeting. He was getting frustrated with the lack of results in their experiments and wanted to speak with her to figure out if there was something they were overlooking.

                “Captain, there must be something we’ve done correctly,” said Curie. They were pouring over the files they had on 0543 and 0544 for what must have been the tenth time that evening. Blood tests, heart rates, lists of medication they were on, notes on their weight (both had lost a lot of weight – 0543 had dipped below 100 pounds), and every other test that had thought to run on the pair. “After all, they’re alive.”

                “At what cost? The modifications haven’t shown up. Relatively speaking they’re just normal Devil Fruit users,” said Tesla. Curie quieted, waiting for her captain to respond. “We’ve spent years and millions of berries researching and researching . . . all we’ve done is waste valuable Devil Fruits on this experiment.”

                “Well sir, the modifications are still there – there must be SOMETHING there,” said Curie.

                Tesla closed his eyes and pressed his fingers together. “Possible, but we’re quickly running out of options,” he said. He stayed quiet for several moments, thinking it over as he drummed his fingers together. “There could be something we just aren’t seeing. Curie, my dear, there is one examination we haven’t tried yet.”

                Curie swallowed. “You don’t mean that one?”

                Tesla nodded. “Yes. That one.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The rating for this story is going to be bumped up to "Explicit" very soon for some very graphic violence. The chapter in question will be noted and a summary of key events from that chapter will be posted in the next chapter for anyone who doesn't want to read it.


	22. 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tesla and Curie decide to vivisection 0543 and 0544.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This chapter contains lots of blood and gore. If you do not like graphic depictions of blood and gore DO NOT READ THIS CHAPTER. Plot points made during the chapter will be summarized at the start of the next chapter which will be posted shortly after this one. 
> 
> The content in question is what is known as a vivisection - if you know what an autopsy is, it's similar to that, only done on a subject that is still alive.
> 
> I repeat: if you do not like graphic blood and gore, DO NOT READ THIS CHAPTER.

                Bath time started off fairly normal. They weren’t so rough with her anymore – her skin broke too easily. But the water was still too cold or too hot (depending on who was giving her the bath) and the soap still smelled strongly of antiseptic and sterile chemicals. None of the flowery or fruity fragrances she preferred to use when she was still on the Thousand Sunny.

                What was different was the presence of shaving cream and razors.

                0543 swallowed. She didn’t like this.

 

                Had this taken place months earlier, 0544 would have responded with lots of swearing, kicking, screaming, and unpleasantness for his captors. At least one of them would have walked away with some injury and if they were going to successfully get away with this, it would have probably taken them a few tries.

                0544 was too tired, too weak, and too scared to fight back against shaving him.

                When they were done, every last patch of hair on his body was gone – eyebrows, legs, armpits, everything – and they were washing him down again, this time with something that smelled like the stuff they used on them before they got a shot, only now they were putting it everywhere. He was fairly certain he had never been this clean before in his entire life.

                He was hoisted up and placed on a gurney, and wheeled out of the room.

 

                0543 wasn’t sure she’d ever been this . . . hairless . . . before. Maybe when she was just born, perhaps, but all of the baby pictures she’d seen of herself included a mop of orange hair. But they’d shaved every last inch of her body – her arms, her legs, her head, everything. She’d never felt this naked in her entire life.

                “What are they going to do to us now?” 0544 asked. The two of them were in a room they hadn’t been in before. They were strapped to a pair of tables, metal (but not seastone, she noted) cuffs holding their wrists, ankles, elbows, knees, shoulders, and hips flat to the tables.  Their necks were secured as well, and it was hard to look around the room. The ceiling had several large light fixtures hovering over them, but they hadn’t been turned on yet. They couldn’t even squirm.

                0543 noticed there were some deep sinks to her side and trays lined with blue paper. Something was probably on the trays but she couldn’t see what they were, exactly. He was on her other side, and she couldn’t see anything past his head. “What’s on your side of the room? There’s something in a tray and some deep sinks.”

                0544 turned his head. “Two of the things they use to keep track of our vitals. Looks like they’re setup for us. Our numbers are on a couple of clipboards attached to them. Can’t read what else is on them, though.” He turned back to face her. “What do the trays look like?”

                “They’re lined with blue paper but I can’t tell what’s on them.” 0543 craned her head to try and get a better glance at what was in the tray. It was a strain to do it, but she got a split second glance at a few of the items in the tray. As her head hit the table, she felt her blood go cold. “. . . I saw what’s in the tray.”

                The other swallowed. “What?”

                “. . . surgical tools.”

                0544’s eyes widened. That explained why they had been shaved – surgery prep. Infections of any kind could tamper with Tesla’s results, so of course he’d want to minimize risk. He felt his skin freeze. _They’re going to cut us open. Shit._ He wanted to get out of there. He wanted their captain to show up and start kicking some ass to get them out of there. This . . . this was terrifying.

                “I didn’t think there was much worse he could do to us,” he said. “This  is . . . this is . . .”

                “He’ll knock us out,” said 0543 – quickly, as if she was trying to convince herself as well as 0544. “It’s a surgery – the always knock you out before doing that.” She swallowed, trying to fight back tears. “He’ll put us to sleep and we’ll wake up – we’ll be sore but that’ll be the end of it. And we’re in pain all the time anyways.”

                “I don’t care – I don’t want him to do this,” he said.

                “I don’t, either – but we need him to knock us out.”

                0543 turned her head to look at the ceiling. “I really fucking hope so.”

                At that moment Tesla, Curie, and several other scientists stepped into the room in surgical gowns, masks, and hats. They washed up and gloved up and, much to their specimen’s confusion, stuffed plastic bits into their mouths. Both of them wondered why they would need gags when the horrifying answer struck both of them.

                They needed gags because Tesla didn’t want them screaming.

                They would be screaming because there would be no anesthesia.

                0543 felt her blood freeze. 0544 felt himself start to cry.

                They prayed there would be pain killers at the very least.

                Tesla picked up a scalpel. “I will be in charge of 0543 and Curie will handle 0544.”

                0544 clenched his fists together, trembling. _They’re not going to even  . . . oh God . . ._

                “Shall we begin?”

                “Of course.”

 

                **_Oh God, what are you doing?!_**

**_Stop it! STOP IT!_ **

 

                0543 felt the tip of the scalpel press down into the skin between her breasts. There was a sharp sting followed by the sensation of the scalpel cleanly slicing downwards and warm blood ooze from the cut. She screamed into the bit and heard 0544’s muffled cries as well. The pain was horrible, and it was only going to get worse.

                Tesla made a cut across her stomach and then more around her breasts. He peeled back the flaps of her flesh. Nami struggled to move, but her restraints prevented any movement from happening. Her body was held perfectly in place as Tesla wrapped his thumb and index finger around her stomach and squeezed to feel what was in it, then pressed a finger against one of her lungs. She clenched her fists so hard she felt her nails break the skin of her palms.

                _This isn’t happening. This CAN’T be happening._

A hand was wrapped around her stomach. She felt it shaken and immediately felt nauseous. What was he looking for – the piece of Devil Fruit? She’s eaten it months ago – there was no way it was still in her system, unless it had attached itself to the lining of her stomach or something. If it was, she didn’t know – she had no idea what he was looking for.

She could barely see 0544 out of the corner of her eye. Tears were freely streaming down his face as Curie casually used a gloved finger to nudge aside his organs and lungs to look for who the hell cared what. She could see him turn his eyes towards her. Her own vision was cloudy with tears, too, the pain so intense she was half positive it might kill her.

                Tesla was pushing organs aside, squeezing them or inspecting them one at a time. He was humming to himself, like he was cooking a meal or cleaning house. It wasn’t like he was cruelly tearing apart another human being to see what made them tick. He was a true monster, and in that moment she knew there was nothing she could do to get away from him.

                She felt the scalpel again – he was slicing one of her organs open.

                “Dr. Tesla, do you see anything indicative of why the experiment has been a failure in 0543?”

                0543’s eyes widened.

                  _. . . failure?_

                “We don’t know it’s a failure, Curie,” said Tesla. He lifted a section of 0543’s intestine, examining it closely. She could see his gloved hand was red and dripping with her blood. The intestine was scaring her – she knew it was important and part of what made her body work, but she never wanted to see it again. Tesla stared at it for a few seconds, and put it back into place.

                “They’re still alive, aren’t they? All of the others were dead long before this point. Minutes. Hours. Weeks for 0542 and 0541. But these two have survived over eleven months. We cannot ignore those kinds of results. Something must be useful about them, and even if they don’t produce the results we were looking for, they are a valuable step in the right direction.” Tesla finished arranging her intestine and started to look for something else to examine.

                _Everything they’ve done to us . . . all the pain, the tears, the crying, everything . . . it was a failure? They did all of this to us and nothing happened? Whatever it was they wanted . . . it’s not . . . oh God . . . oh God why . . ._ Her hands were starting to feel warm and sticky and wet from her blood. So far, no one had noticed, but she could only imagine the amount of blood secreting from her stomach and chest was much more, and the blood from her palms was miniscule compared to that.

                She started to feel lightheaded, and the pain started to go away. She loosened the grip on her hands and started to relax on the table. She wasn’t sure why, or what was going on – maybe someone had stuck her with a pain killer and she hadn’t noticed. She closed her eyes and opened them, but her vision was blurry and she was starting to feel almost tired in a way.

                “Shit!” Tesla swore loudly. Or at least she thought it was loud but it was kind of hazy, like he was several rooms away, or she was underwater, or something. Her eyes were half closed. She wasn’t sure what was going on, but she was too tired and sleepy to care. It wasn’t hurting anymore, after all. Why should she even care?

                “What?”

                “0543 is going into shock! Get over here before we lose her!”

Suddenly a bunch of scientists were around her, frantically checking her neck for a pulse or something and shouting and yelling at each other. Someone tried to sew her up, but she was beginning to realize that really didn’t matter. The damage had been done. She closed her eyes as the reality started to sink in.

                _I’m going to see Bellemere again . . ._

                0543 couldn’t hear the scientists anymore. She couldn’t hear anything at all.

 

                _. . . why did you abandon us?_

                It was all 0544 could think of as Curie systematically looked at his organs. He wasn’t a doctor, but from being a cook he knew what she was looking at. He’d butchered pigs and chickens and even a couple of cows for food at the restaurant countless time. Sheep, deer, pheasant, goat, rabbit, all sorts of strange animals that Carne had been able to get a hold of somehow.

                There was a process for butchering them, and the old man had turned it into a science class many years ago. He showed 0544 all of the organs found inside of a pig and explained what the pig used it for in life and how it was to be used in cooking. 0544, who had been twelve at the time, had been mesmerized by the experience.

                “ _The kidney helps cleanse the body – it processes alcohol, which you better not touch until your older, amongst other things – and can be uses in a variety of dishes. The lungs themselves you really can’t use because you don’t know what the pig was breathing in. If we could find a pig that was from a farm near a coal mine or something I would like to show you what you’re doing to your lungs with those damned cigarettes.”_

                _“Shut up, old geezer!”_

 _Oh God, I’m so sorry for everything I did to you . . . please . . . please forgive me . . ._ the old man was exactly who 0544 wanted. His birth parents were long dead. Their captain and the others . . . it had been so fucking long he wasn’t sure what he would do if he saw them except curse them out. 0543 was in no position to help him. But the old man was his foster father and despite years of arguing and fighting, he knew deep down inside that old man loved him and he just wanted to be told it was going to be okay.

                Yes. Sew him back up and let him cry with his foster father.

                Curie sliced an organ open. 0544’s eyes flew open wide and he screamed into the gag. Even though the scream was muffled, he felt something in his throat tear and knew his face was red in anguish and fear because the blood was pooling around his face if it wasn’t trying to escape his body from where the incisions were being made.

                “Nothing in the stomach. Where else shall I check?” asked Curie.

                0544 didn’t care. He didn’t want anything else “checked”. _Let me go back to my cell. Please. Just let me go back to the holding cell._ He felt a hand grasp at another organ, squeezing it a little. _Stop hurting me!_ The organ was pulled at a little. Curie made some kind of a comment to one of the other scientists. _Just stop it! STOP IT!_

                “Shit!” Tesla swore loudly as scientists working on 0543 were moving very quickly.

                “What?”

                “0543 is going into shock! Get over here before we lose her!”

                0544 felt his blood freeze. Curie abandoned him as someone else took over while scientists started screaming and shouting around 0543. He gripped the side of the table, images of 0543 from before this mess started flashing through his head. 0543 laughing and sitting at a table in the restaurant when he first saw her. Casually reading on the deck of one of the ships they’d traveled together on, sipping a mixed drink and smiling at him when he checked on her. In need of rescue from that fishman, or that sand reptile, or that false thunder deity or that creepy lion man.

                The two of them alone in the holding cell, holding out for a miracle. . .

                If she died . . . he’d be alone. Even if he was rescued, he’d have lost the best friend he’d ever had. The only person who would ever understand what he’d gone through. He’d spend the rest of his life, however long he had left, as Tesla’s lab rat, but there would be no one to hold him or for him to hold as he cried himself to sleep at night.

                She couldn’t . . . she couldn’t leave him!

                _No! Don’t take her from me! Please, don’t take her from me! She’s all I have! Don’t die on me!_


	23. 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 0543 teeters on the edge of life and death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, here is a toned down description of what happened last chapter, as well as a couple of clarifying notes that were asked about in the comments and reviews but might not be directly addressed in story.  
>  Sanji and Nami are shaved completely bald (CLARIFYING NOTE: This is mostly for hygienic purposes to avoid infection, not brain surgery, because it’s easier to clean someone without hair than it is to clean someone with hair – ALL of their body hair was shaved off, not just the hair on the top of their heads) and strapped to tables in an operating room. Although they assume they will be knocked out and/or given pain killers, this is not the case and they are gagged to muffle any screaming.  
>  Most of what follows is the reason the chapter was preceded by a specific warning. A few things of note:  
>  The Voice shows up – it is not happy with what’s happening.  
>  Tesla and Curie discuss the experiment being a failure because their results haven’t shown up.  
>  Towards the end of the chapter, Nami starts to feel unusually light headed and Tesla realizes she is going into shock – most of the efforts of the scientists in the room shift away from Sanji and focus on preventing her from dying. That being said, Sanji has not passed out or gone into shock and is aware that Nami’s life is hanging by a thread – he doesn’t want her to die, he doesn’t want to left there alone, and he’s scared.

                0543 wasn’t sure what had happened.

                She couldn’t recall where she had been before she ended up in this strange place. It was a sandy beach somewhere, at the bottom of a cliff. The waves were crashing onto the sand, the water sliding over her bare feet as she stood gazing out at the horizon. In the distance she thought she could see something, maybe a ship, but it was too far away to be sure.

                “Nami.”

                0543 shuddered and recoiled at the word, covering her head with her arms and nearly falling onto her behind. She shuddered a little, but when no shock came relaxed a little. She still felt tense, and couldn’t bring herself to use the term herself, but there was no pain this time. That was an improvement, wasn’t it?”

                “This isn’t your time yet.”

                Sitting on a rock nearby was her captain. He, too, was looking out at the sea, stoically watching the water and the moonlight. He had his hands on his knees, his hat was lowered over his eyes, and he wasn’t looking at her. 0543 wanted to rush towards him, but he held out his hand and shook his head. She stopped in her tracks, confused. Why wouldn’t he let her go to him?

                “You’re hurting. I know that. And I’m going to look for you for a very long time,” he said. He turned to face her, and she noticed that something was a little off about him, like he was made of mist or something ethereal.  He wasn’t real.  The sight of him made her want to start crying in frustration, but she didn’t know where she was. Was she dead or dying or had she finally gone crazy and this strange beach with this strange fake captain of hers insanity?

                “Why . . .”

                “I don’t think I’m going to find you.”

 

                Tesla screamed. “Her heart stopped!”

                0544 thought his was about to stop, too.

 

                “What!?” 0543 stomped towards him, tears in her eyes. He didn’t move, and just stared at her blankly. “But you can’t do that! Even if I’m dead or something you still need to save 0544! He needs to find his ocean! You can’t just leave him! You have to save him! You have to find him! I won’t forgive you if you don’t!” She grasped his vest in anger, but he responded in kind by grabbing her wrist and she stopped.

                “You’re not going to die. And stop calling Sanji by that number. You’re not a number – you’re Nami, the best navigator in the world.” For the first time, the image of their captain smiled. “I know it’s hard. But you have to hold on. If you die here, you’re going to leave him all alone with that man. You can’t do that.”

                0543 froze here she stood. That was right. If something happened to her, 0544 would be all alone. And they made a promise to each other they would get out together. If she died, it would be like she was breaking that promise. She’d be dead, but she’d never have to worry about Tesla hurting her again. 0544 on the other hand . . .

                “I . . . I don’t wanna die . . .” she was crying, standing and staring at her captain in anguish.

                He pointed behind her.

                The beach abruptly ended, and instead she saw herself, her eyes rolled back on an operating table and Tesla and Curie were screaming and shouting around her. Someone was shouting that her heart wasn’t beating. Tesla was trying to get her heartbeat started again, swearing loudly at her. He was trying to keep her from dying, but 0543 hated him. He wasn’t trying to save her life because he thought it was valuable on its own – all he wanted was for her to live so that she didn’t take his precious experimental data to the grave with her.

                And on the table next to her was 0544. Still conscious, somehow not rapidly spiraling towards his own death. Curie was healing him (presumably so that even if something happened to her they still had one of their precious experimental subjects) but there was tension and worry in his eyes. He was afraid of what was going to happen to her. He was afraid of what was going to happen to him.

                “You . . . you’re involved in this mess because you went with me that day to protect me. And even after all this time . . . you still probably blame yourself for what happened.  But . . . but it wasn’t anyone’s fault but Tesla’s! It wasn’t your fault! It wasn’t our captain’s fault! It wasn’t my fault! You did the best you could – you picked me up and tried to run because you thought it would faster! You wanted to leave before I wanted to leave because you knew something was wrong! You . . . you’re not the one to blame here! Please! You did your best!”

                She was afraid of leaving him alone.

                “You can’t die. You have to go back there.”

                “What?”

                “Somehow you’re going to get out of there. You and Sanji are going to get out of there, and you’re going to get better, and we’re all going to be pirates together again. Then you’re going to draw your map of the world, and Sanji is going to make sure All Blue is on it. But you can’t do that unless you go back, because if you stay here you won’t make your dream come true.”

                0543 turned to face her captain again, a pit in her stomach. He lowered his hat with one hand and pointed with the other. He stood there stoically, which was strange for her captain. He was always moving – laughing, shouting, running, swinging from this or that, exploring here and there . . .  to see him standing so still was sending shivers up and down here spine.

                But amazingly, she wasn’t scared.

                It was almost comforting.

                “Captain’s orders.”

                She nodded. “Yes, captain.”

                She took a step towards the operating room and caught a glimpse of the object in the distance out of the corner of her eye. She stopped and turned to face it – she felt her face light up in recognition, her eyes wide because for one second she knew exactly what she was looking at, and it was the first welcome sight she’d seen in months.

                Then the sensation passed as quickly as it came and it was gone and suddenly she couldn’t remember what it was anymore. She wanted to know what it was, and it ached that she didn’t know, but another glimpse of the operating room reminded her that she needed to go back there – go back to that awful place of sadness and pain.

                She had to do it for her best friend – the person she loved the most in the whole world . . .

 

                **_Oh thank God you’re not dead, Sneaky Thief . . ._**

 

                0544 was somewhat relieved he was being healed up, but the thought of going back to the holding cell alone scared him. What if she died? He’d be alone, and she would never make her map, and she would never laugh or smile again, and she would never see the sun or the stars or anything ever again and that thought was slowly killing him, too.

                Tesla calmed down and sighed. Then he smacked the nearest scientist, sending him spiraling into the nearest cart. “You imbeciles! We could have lost her – her heart was stopped for half a minute! You’re damn lucky she’s not dead right now or I would have had your heads! Do you understand me!? If either of them had died today I would be forced to kill each and every one of you!”

                0544 felt relieved. It sounded like she was going to be okay.

                As he was rolled away and out of the operating room, he caught a glimpse of her face. Her eyes were barely open, but she was looking at him. She looked worse for wear, although he probably didn’t look much better, and it struck him that, no matter how exhausted or hurt or awful she looked at that moment, she looked amazing for someone whose heart had stopped for thirty seconds.

                0544 saw her fingers moving. She wanted to hold him. But neither of them could move. He wanted to start crying, but he was too overwhelmed and tired – his body wouldn’t do. He stared at her and moved his fingers for her. She understood, then closed her eyes to try and rest as the scientists continued to examine her.

                As she disappeared from his line of sight, he remembered why he was there.

_“Absolutely not!”_

_“What, Sanji-kun? Do you suddenly have a problem with stealing from pirates? Remember, we’re pirates ourselves – if you didn’t want to be a pirate you should have stayed on the Baratie!”_

_“I have no problem with attacking other pirates – I have a problem with sending you off by yourself to face pirates on the Grand Line! Nami-san, you’re used to robbing pirates from the East Blue, which we all know is the weakest ocean – barring me, of course, and a certain rubber freak and green haired swordsman – but the Grand Line is different. The pirates here are a lot tougher than, I don’t know, Buggy or someone in his league. There are men out here who can kill you just by LOOKING at you, and I’m worried you’ll get hurt.”_

_“Cook-san has a good point. Perhaps you should go with her to make sure she’s well defended? Especially seeing as her normal method of defense is being repaired by Long Nose-kun.”_

_“Nami-swan! I’ll protect you with the very depths of my soul and my unending love for you, my sweet! I’ll make sure no one lays a hand on you and then we can sail off together into the sunset and live happily ever after, my love, my life, my darling tangerine scented angel of the seas!”_

_“Whatever. Just don’t do anything to cause a scene and kick some ass if I need you too.”_

_“ANYTHING MY LOVE!”_

                The only reason he was there on that awful ship was to protect her, and he’d failed.

 

                0543 was glad that 0544 was in the hospital bed next to her as they recovered from the surgery. Curie had removed any trace of physical scars – on their organs, their skin, everywhere – but after . . . whatever had happened to her, Tesla wanted them to be observed overnight and wanted the other experiments halted for the next few days to make sure they recovered correctly.

                That had been a day ago. They were both in pain, but it had been the longest stretch on time in a long time they hadn’t been subjected to daily experiments. The shots and the pills hadn’t stopped, but there weren’t any extreme tests and mostly they were allowed to sleep and rest, which they desperately needed.

                “Our captain ordered me not to die,” she said. “He didn’t want me to leave you alone.”

                0544 was staring at the wall ahead of him. “Is that so?”

                “Please don’t be mad at me.”

                “Why would I be mad at you? It’s not like you tried to die back there.”

                She tried to make herself comfortable in the bed. It was hard when they were strapped in so tight. “I guess you’re right.” She sighed and turned to look at 0544. “What are we going to do? We’re going to live for now but how long until he decides to do that again? What if one of us doesn’t survive next time?”

                0544 closed his eyes. He didn’t have an answer.

                They sat in silence, the reality of their situation sinking in. Their captain might not be able to find them in time. There was a real chance they were going to die there – even more real than it had been before in the aftermath of what happened to 0543. They were getting weaker and weaker, and before long there wouldn’t be much they could do even if an opportunity presented itself to them. They wouldn’t have the strength to do anything.

                Time was running out.


	24. 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a year of captivity, 0543 and 0544 experience something very strange as Tesla's experiment is finally revealed.

                It was late in the day. The scientists kept them out of the cell extra late for some reason – it was well past dinner time, and 0543 was hungry. She didn’t dare demand it, but the slop they had survived off of for the last year was suddenly very appealing to her. There was no motion made to feed them, even as the attending scientist ate both his lunch and dinner within her range of sight.

                That wasn’t the worst part.

                There was a calendar on the desk that day. It was one of those calendars that had a sheet for each day, and someone tore off a page every time a day was over, and according to that calendar, a full 365 pages had been thrown into a wire wastebasket since the day 0543 and 0544 had walked away from the new ship for the last time.

                February 1. The day their lives had ended.

                0543 had bought one before – sometime before the Going Merry even entered the Grand Line. She had kept it in her old bedroom and used it to casually mark the passage of time, sometimes folding the pieces of paper in little tangerines or people, but mostly using them for scrap paper to write out notes or shopping lists. The sniper had taught her how to make cranes, and 0544 had surprised her by making one into a rose one day in an almost uncharacteristically smooth and sweet gesture for the kind of man he had been at the time.

                She remembered how heavy it felt in her hands when she brought it back to the ship. Although not nearly heavy enough to warrant any kind of assistance from one of the boys, it was dense enough that it had a certain quality to it that made it somehow feel more real or substantial in her hands, even though at the time it was just a calendar.

                Now that weight felt like the world. That was how much of her life she had lost.

                She wasn’t sure if her captain was still looking for them anymore. Her desperate plea for help had been months ago, hadn’t it? The last thing he and the others would have ever heard from them would have been her screams. 0543 closed her eyes. No. He wasn’t going to stop until Tesla was dead. Whether or not she and 0544 would live to see that day she didn’t know.

                They didn’t bother with sea stone restraints anymore – simple leather cuffs and straps were more than adequate to keep them tied down. Neither of them had the strength or willpower to fight back anymore. They would just lie there quietly on the lab table as they were injected and poked and prodded. When things hurt, they didn’t scream anymore – at most they might wince or whimper, but they’d learned that staying still made it hurt less. Either they had gotten used to it, or the surgery they had been put through drowned out any other pain in comparison.

                The good thing about the leather cuffs was that they were a little more comfortable and a bit softer. She could wiggle around a little bit if she wanted to, but mostly she didn’t. She didn’t like it when one of the rougher scientists slapped her if she didn’t behave. Moving around too much could be seen as misbehaving in the eyes of a particularly strict scientist.

                The scientist in the room checked the normal things. Her heart rate, her pulse, her temperature, earlier he’d taken urine. A few notes were written on a clipboard, dropped on a desk, and then the scientist stepped out of the room. Who the hell knew what he were going to go get? Like it mattered anymore. It was probably going to hurt.

                Maybe it was a needle filled with the stuff they used to put down animals.

                0543 closed her eyes. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. She’d get to see Bellemere-san, again. Her mother would be waiting for her. She’d finally be able to see her mother again for the first time in what, nine years now? Bellemere-san would hug her and tell her it was all right. She wouldn’t be in pain anymore.

                After all, she’d come close to dying once . . .

                She could see her mother’s smile.

                And then something happened.

                At first 0543 thought she was hallucinating – she cried, not wanting to deal with another one. What this time? Her captain or the others, or maybe her sister and her father figure, all smiling at her and laughing and telling her she was safe before they vanished? Or would it be that bastard who killed her mother breathing down her neck, or the leader of that organization snapping the princess’s neck, or the lion faced man trying to hurt her, or something awful happening to 0544?

                But sinking into a table was a new one. 0543 contemplated screaming, but her throat was sore from something they’d recently shoved down there and she settled on a whimper. What was going on? She was falling through everything. Her hospital gown, her panties, the IVs, a few sensors they’d attached to her, and all of this was in addition to the table itself.

                Then with an unceremonious thud she found herself on the floor, naked under the table.

                She looked around, crawling out from under the table and grabbing her hospital gown. Her heart was racing as she clutched the garment to her chest. Her knees were shaking nervously. Somehow, she wasn’t strapped to the table anymore. But why? Had they done something funny to the table?

                She walked out the table and cautiously knocked against it. No, it still felt pretty solid. And it wouldn’t explain her hospital gown or anything else suddenly disappearing. Had she died? Was she a ghost? No, she would have seen her body on the table, right? Then how did she pass through the table and her clothing and everything else like it had suddenly turned into nothing?

                0543’s eyes caught the desk. The clipboard.

                Greedily, 0543 grabbed it and started to read. Mostly it looked like vital signs like heart rate and blood pressure, levels of things in her blood, her weight (she had lost over thirty pounds since her imprisonment), and the like. The last remark was in regards to no results, which frustrated her. There wasn’t anything explaining what had happened to her!

                As she put the clipboard down, she watched her hand pass through the board and the counter.

                She nearly screamed.

                She pulled her hand towards her face and stared at it. What the hell was happening to her now? Why was her hand passing through things? Was it another hallucination? No, no, this seemed too real, and it felt too real. Did they do something to the room she was in? No, that didn’t make any sense, either. Could she have died? Was this the afterlife? Somehow that didn’t seem right either.

                She tapped the counter again. Solid. She tried it several more times – sometimes her hand passed through it, and something it hit solid counter. She felt her heart racing as she tried to understand what was happening to her. “This isn’t happening . . . this isn’t happening . . .” she was crying now, her stomach tied in knots as her frustration got the better of her.

                She took a step back – her foot went through the floor.

                She nearly shrieked, falling backwards. Her back hit the ground and her foot went in the air, free from the floor. She laid there for a few moment, gripping the cloth in her hands as she struggled to understand what was going on. It wasn’t a hallucination. And she didn’t think she was dead. And whatever was going on she had no control over. She covered her face, trying to muffle hysterical sobs – she didn’t want anyone to come running. She wanted them to leave her alone as long as they would.

                And that was when she fell through the floor.

 

                “It’s been a damn year and it still hasn’t happened?”

                0544 listened absently from the table they’d placed him on. He had no idea what they were going to do to him this time. Maybe just start pressing the remote control for his shock collar for the hell of it. He hadn’t tried to use his power in months, though – the shocks hurt too much and he was tired of hurting. He didn’t even think happiness was necessary – just let him sleep somewhere quiet and not touch him. That’s all he wanted anymore.

                Tesla was in the room with the scientists today – seeing him shouldn’t have been a surprise, considering how long he’d been in there – according to the clock it was well beyond the normal quitting time and now it was even beyond dinner time. He seemed pissed about something. 0544 tried to shrink back into the corner of the cage. Tesla’s presence for a test was bad enough – it meant being vivisected, or The Tank, or some other ‘major experiment’ that was worse than usual. To see Tesla was angry? 0544 thought he was going to die.

                “Should we consider the experiment failed?” one of the techs asked.

                The captain of the ship turned to 0544. He shuddered. Just a year ago, he’d been yelling and swearing at the man, unafraid and determined to protect 0543 when his intentions became clear. He’d been so convinced that Luffy was going to show up. He’d been calm because it wouldn’t be that long – he’d gotten lucky with a kind of interesting Devil Fruit power that, with a little practice might have helped him multi-task in the kitchen when they were rescued.

                Now it seemed the only escape they had to look forward to was death.

                “Keep them. There may be something we’re overlooking – I’m not going to give up on the modifications just yet – Devil Fruits are not cheap. I don’t want to have to buy more of them because the experiments we ran on them haven’t worked yet. We’re going to wait until we are POSITIVE that they’re duds, figure out what worked well enough that they didn’t keel over, and then proceed with 0545 and 0546.”

                0544 listened intently. He’d done something to the Devil Fruits. _But what?_

                Tesla shook his head. “Let’s give it another six months before we give up and get rid of them.”

                0544 felt his heart beat slow a little as Tesla stood and escorted the other two scientists out of the room. _They’re going to get rid of us. In six months . . . this will be over._ He started sobbing, but wasn’t sure if he was happy or sad. He didn’t want to die. But he didn’t want to live like this anymore. Was this really the only way out? Luffy wasn’t coming for them – he had no idea where they were. Their Devil Fruit abilities were kept in check at first, but now they were too afraid of punishment to use them even when they weren’t bound by sea stone, so they didn’t bother with it anymore. The World Government and the Marines wouldn’t care – if they were recovered by them, all that would happen would be a trip to Impel Down once their identities were confirmed and death wouldn’t happen long after. He and 0543 wouldn’t be able to survive Impel Down in their condition – they’d never get to the execution platform.

                0544 felt very small – the room seeming to get bigger around him didn’t help.

                He quickly realized that this wasn’t a normal hallucination – this was too real. And everything he’d seen before made some kind of sense – his old home in North Blue, or being stranded on that island again, or the swordsman laughing at him or his foster father being impaled while that armored freak set the restaurant ablaze, or finding himself back on the ship, cooking dinner for the others and hearing 0543 laugh – all of that made some kind of sense when he thought about his fears, his longings, and everything else making him tick since his kidnapping.

                This operated outside the realm of ‘sense’ (although to that went for most of Tesla’s ship).

                Growing fur didn’t make any sense, nor did the sensation of his muscles and bones and organs moving and shrinking and changing shape. He felt his heart begin to race – something was growing out of him, and his limbs were shrinking and growing hair and he wanted to scream but he just watched in shock and horror.

                His head was too small – it slipped out of the shock collar easily. His arms and legs were too thin and short to be held down to the table, either. He was released from the straps on the table, but he stayed as still as he could, too afraid to move. He didn’t understand what was happening to him and moving seemed like a bad idea.

                Finally, it stopped. 0544 was sitting in a pile of his clothes, the shock collar lying harmlessly nearby. He whimpered, sensing that his voice didn’t sound human anymore. He curled up, bringing his tail around to cover his face and lowering his ears and shaking like a nervous rat.

                Tail? Ears?

                0544 stood again on all fours and tried to get a look at himself. He was some kind of animal! With a tail and big ears and fur all over his now much tinier limbs. He could hear and smell and see better than he could before, and the idea that he could see even MORE of this place sent him into a minor panic. He wanted to howl, but that would just bring Tesla running.

                He caught a glimpse of himself in a mirror above a sink in the room. He looked like some kind of large-eared, blondish-yellow fox. He turned to face the reflection, bobbing his head this way and that to make sure that the animal he was looking at was, indeed, his own reflection – it was. 0544 stared, trying to grasp what this meant. What had turned him into an animal?

                The only thing that could turn a person into an animal was . . .

                _No. He didn’t._

0544 sat and tried to process what was going on. Tesla was obviously looking for a sign of SOMETHING. And he had said he’d done something to their Devil Fruits – probably before they’d even been kidnapped.  And now that he was displaying powers that only Zoan fruit users had, it started to make some kind of horrific sense.

                And then something came crashing down from above.

 

_About a year and a half earlier . . ._

 

                _Tesla watched in disgust as 0539 and 0540 were dumped over the sides of the ship. It had only been a few minutes into the experiment when they expired, despite his best efforts to prevent it from happening, and he was starting to get frustrated with the whole affair. His eyes watched as their lifeless bodies sank into the abyss until he could no longer see them, and then he turned to the crew._

_“All right – let’s seek out more Devil Fruits and try again.”_

_The crew quietly nodded as Radian began giving orders to the crew to get them to a new port. Tesla began to walk back towards his cabin, Curie quickly and seamlessly coming to his side. He quietly acknowledged her, closing his eyes in near defeat. “Is something wrong, Dr. Tesla?” asked Curie. “Aside from the results of the most recent experiment.”_

_“Is there something we’re overlooking?” he asked._

_“It’s hard to say, sir – we’re heading to St. Poplar to see if they have any Devil Fruits for sale,” said Curie. “We’ll probably need to rob a ship on the way there – just acquiring ONE Devil Fruit is expensive, never mind four of them, and stealing from the black market vendors is a bit trickier than passenger ships or merchant vessels.”_

_“Sad, but true,” said Tesla. “Should we focus on specifics kinds of Devil Fruits?”_

_“Difficult to say – there’s still so much about the Devil Fruits that is unknown.”_

_They walked in silence for several minutes until arriving at Tesla’s quarters, where a member of the galley staff was waiting with their lunches. Curie quietly thanked him and sat down, then watched as Tesla dropped his haddock onto his steak. “Ah, your specialty again, Dr. Tesla?” asked Curie, her lips curling into a grin._

_Tesla grunted, focusing on his food. Little by little, the haddock appeared to sink into the fillet mignon, and the fillet mignon appeared to be expanding. After several moments, the fish was all but gone and the steak had taken on a lighter color. Tesla stabbed his fork into the steak, cut into it, and took a bite._

_“It’s too bad that the staff doesn’t have the ability to fuse food together like I do. There really is nothing better than steak and haddock fused together at the molecular level – except, perhaps, for elephant tuna steaks and tomatoes,” he said. He chewed and swallowed, then patted the corners of his mouth dry. “That’s the elegance of my Devil Fruit – it’s a perfect fusion. Every bite of my steaks is perfectly even – no patches of one meat here and another meat there. I don’t have to choose between two flavors – I can have them both simultaneously.”_

_Curie closed her eyes – it was an odd habit of her captain. He enjoyed fusing his food together, creating strange flavors she wasn’t quite sure she personally enjoyed, but on many occasions, this was how the doctor chose to eat. She supposed he must have gotten curious one day and decided to experiment with his own Devil Fruit power to see just what it was capable of._

_Mostly, he used his Devil Fruit on their enemies. Fusing living flesh to living flesh using his methods was extremely painful – enough to make most pirates and Marines stop in their tracks. Sometimes he fused other things together to see what would happen. But his favorite thing to fuse was his food. He’d fuse anything – meats to meats, vegetables to vegetables, vegetables to meats, fruits to-_

_The first mate of the Science Pirates stared at her captain’s meal with wide eyes. She couldn’t believe they hadn’t thought of it sooner, especially considering all the money and time and effort they’d poured into the project, and here was a possible solution, sitting right under their noses on Dr. Tesla’s plate. “Captain . . . I have an idea we haven’t tried yet,” she said._

_“For robbing black market vendors?” Tesla asked._

_Curie grinned. “No. For non-fatal consumption of multiple Devil Fruits.”_


	25. 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 0543 and 0544 realize they finally have a chance to escape.

                _Several months later, after acquiring more Devil Fruits (eight this time, just in case something  unfortunate happened to 0541 and 0542), Tesla was still frustrated that things weren’t quite going his way, but he was rather stunned at the results he’d gotten this time – three days in and his experimental subjects were alive._

_Technically. His subjects hadn’t officially died – their hearts were beating and their lungs were forcing air in and out of their lungs, but they were completely unresponsive to all outside stimuli, and it took several moments for him to realize they were completely comatose. Since then, the pair had been moved to the operating room’s recovery room, where they were being carefully monitored to see if they could be brought out of their comas._

_“Do you think they’ll wake up?” asked Curie._

_Tesla watched them sleeping with interest. “Hard to say. It’s possible that I may need to focus the fusion process longer, to make sure they are completely and totally fused. What is acceptable for normal food may not be acceptable for the Devil Fruits. Regardless, it’s been three days and they haven’t expired. Something went right this time, but whether or not either power – never mind both of them – were to manifest is impossible to say.”_

_Weeks passed. 0541 and 0542 didn’t make it._

_That left the remaining four Devil Fruits._

_“This is it – our last ditch effort,” said Tesla. “If this fails, we’ll move on to the next experiment.”_

_Curie nodded. They’d brought the four fruits out, and she had the illustrated guide to the fruits in her lap. It was her job to identify them before they starting fusing any of the fruits together. Tesla arranged them on his desk, assigning each a small tag with a number on it before returning to his notes. They would need to choose which fruit pairs to choose to get the best possible results._

_“Fruit #1 is the Neko Neko No Mi: Model Tiger,” said Curie._

_“Powerful Zoan – we got a good deal on this.”_

_Curie shrugged and continued flipping through the book. “Fruit #2.”_

_“Yes?”_

_“The Tere Tere no Mi – telekinesis.”_

_Tesla nodded slowly. “We’re going to need to make sure that once we find them, 0543 and 0544 are kept under tight seastone control, otherwise we’re going to have some nasty problems on hand,” he said. “See what you can do about hunting down more seastone restraints – anything you can find would be helpful.”_

_Curie made a note of the request._

_“Fruit #3?”_

_“Inu Inu no Mi: Model Fennec Fox.”_

_Tesla nodded. “Far less dangerous than the tiger or the telekinesis . . . make sure it’s paired with telekinesis – I feel there’s a good chance we would end up with some kind of hybrid zoan if we paired it with the tiger, and although that would be interesting to investigate that’s not what I want to do right now,” he said. He turned to her. “And Fruit #4?”_

_Curie flipped through the book, paused, and then went back to the beginning and tried again. “I can’t find a picture of it. There’s a list of about thirty Devil Fruits without pictures but there’s no way we’d be able to figure out which one of them we’ve acquired,” she said. She picked up the fruit, looked at it, and sighed. “Should we try to find another fruit and use this for something else?”_

_Tesla shook his head. “We’ve spent enough money on them for now – no use wasting it.”_

_“We don’t even know if it’s a paramecia, zoan, or logia class.”_

_“Well it’s not as if we can use it for anything else.”_

 

                0543 felt her heart race as she realized she was another room, sprawled on the floor by one of the exam tables, and naked but still clutching her hospital gown.  She wanted to start crying, because none of it made any sense to her. Why was everything around her solid one minute and . . . not . . . the next? She buried her face in the gown.

                “Are you okay?”

                She knew that voice – it was her friend, her only friend here. She started to whimper. She needed to talk to him. 0543 turned her head to the source of 0544’s voice and nearly screamed. There, instead of 0544, was a little yellow fox with big ears. It walked over to her, looking down from its perch on the examination table.

                “. . . it happened to you, too.”

                0543’s eyes widened in horror. _0544\. But how?_

                “Oh God,” she said. She scrambled to her feet, then watched as the little fox slowly started to grow, eventually stopping in a half human, half animal form. 0544 looked at his hands, or paws, or whatever they were, and looked at his companion in panic. 0543 felt herself shake. “This doesn’t make any sense. But it’s too real to be a hallucination. What did he do to us?”

                0544 shook his head. “He did something to the Devil Fruits.”

                “What?”  
                “He said he did something to the fucking Devil Fruits. He made us freaks.”

                0543 stepped back and looked at her stomach. It was starting to make sense. If she wasn’t dead and she could pass through solid objects . . . it was like a Devil Fruit power. But she already had a power. She closed her eyes. She focused on trying to change into her half-tiger form, and felt the familiar sensation of shooting up several inches in height, growing a tail, and sprouting fur. 0544 watched her as she examined herself, then shrank back into her human form. She placed her hand over the examination table, and pushed down.

                Her hand passed through the table.

                “So that’s it.”

                “. . . more than one Devil Fruit ability.”

                They stared at each other in silence, realizing the magnitude of what had happened. This hadn’t happened in the history of science – Tesla had done something no one else had figured out how to do. They weren’t sure HOW he’d done it, but somehow, someway, he’d gotten a second Devil Fruit into each of their bodies, and did it without killing them or even making them consume a second fruit.

                “. . . but how?” said 0543.

                0544 stared at her, thinking about everything that had happened to them for the past year. He cared about her more than anyone in the world, and it dawned on him that this moment was special. This moment, the only people who knew what they could do was just the two of them, and as soon as Tesla and his cronies figured out what had happened . . .

                _This is . . . this is it. This is our big chance. We can . . ._

0544 pushed himself off the table, and struggled to get back into his clothing. “You know what? I don’t fucking care how he did it, because now we’re stuck with it whether we’re in here or out there and there’s nothing we can do to change that,” he said. 0543 watched him, then remembered she was carrying her own gown and struggled to put it on over her head. “He was talking about getting rid of us in six months. He’s almost at the end of his rope with us, but if he sees this, there’s no telling what he’ll do next.”

                “Oh God,” said 0543.

                0544 took her hands. “This is our chance. This is our ONLY chance.” He swallowed. “Ever since we stepped onto this ship, we’ve gotten nothing but bad cards thrown at us. Well, this time we don’t exactly have a royal flush but I’ll take the full house. This is the only real chance we’ve had this whole time, and once Tesla finds out what’s happened he’ll never let us go.” He gripped her hands. “No one knows about this yet. We’re not tied down. And the shock collars are gone. We can do this. We’re standing here with nothing holding us back, and there are four Devil Fruit abilities between the two of us.”

                “But we’re on a boat surrounded by water, and everyone here wants to hurt us,” she said.

                “We both know that our captain’s not coming for us – we can’t keep pretending he’s going to walk through the door and come save us anymore. If it was going to happen it would have happened a long time ago,” he said. He tried to smile, but it was almost like he’d forgotten how. “We can steal a lifeboat. We can try to make it to dry land.”  
                “And if we don’t?”

                0544 swallowed. He wasn’t sure what to say to that.

                0543 put her hands on his shoulders, tears in her eyes. “We’d be free. And even if we don’t make it, we’re leaving this ship on our terms. Not his.” She grabbed his hands. “We can be pirates again. We can go sailing. Even if we can’t make it to land or a boat . . . we’ll be sailing. The wind, the salty air, just like before . . .”

                0544 pulled her into his arms and rested his head on hers. “It’ll be better than here.”

                “Yeah. It will be.”

                “But we have to try to live.” 0543 nodded at him, but they both knew that chances were their attempts at survival would end in failure. Two Devil Fruit users (regardless of how many extra powers they had) in the middle of the open ocean on what could only be a lifeboat had a slim chance of surviving.

                “. . . yeah.”

                They would be escaping Tesla to die in peace.

                They stood in silence, looking around and trying to figure out what to do. 0543 took 0544’s hand and concentrated, then pressed their clutched hands into the examination table. She her lips cracked into a slight grin when his hands passed through with hers, although he didn’t share in her enthusiasm – at least, not the same kind. His face had gone paler than normal (at least what counted as “normal” on this ship) and he was shaking a little.

                “This is our way out,” she said. “I can walk through walls, and if I’m holding onto you, so can you.”

                “I think my stomach is in my throat,” he said, still shaking.

                She pulled him into an embrace. “It’s okay. But we can’t stay here much longer.”

                They held each other tightly for a few more seconds before 0543 took 0544’s hand and started walking towards a wall. She pressed her ear to the wall to listen for voices and when she heard none, she passed through it like it was nothing, and pulled 0544 through behind her, leaving the room empty and their hope renewed.

 

                **_Don’t give up hope._**

**_Whatever you do, don’t give up hope._ **

**_You have to draw your map._ **

**_You have to find your ocean._ **

**_Rubber captain and the others would be sad if you died._ **

**_Please . . . please survive . . ._ **

 

                Moments later, a scientist tried to check in on 0543 and found the room empty.


	26. 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 0543 and 0544 try to find their way to the top deck.

                The escaped subjects found themselves standing in a supply room of some sort. 0543 and 0544 looked around, clutching each other’s hands tightly. “Now what?” asked 0544. “Where do we go from here?”

                “The top deck,” said 0543. She turned to her companion. She stared at him for several moments, then frowned. “You do realize . . . if we get off this ship . . . we may never see dry land again. Unless we’re in a port right now . . . we’ll be stealing a lifeboat and sailing away, but we’ll have no way of knowing where we’re going to be heading.”

                “We’ll die.”

                “Probably.”

                “But even if that happens . . . it’ll be like we’re pirates again.”

                0543 felt herself near tears. The thought of feeling the wind blowing against her skin again and the sound of seagulls cawing in the distance was enticing. Even if it was only for a little while, she decided she would be okay if she died like that. Her body started to lose its substance and her gown nearly fell through her, but the very tangible 0544 grabbed hold of the sleeves and kept it up for her until she composed herself. “I’m sorry – I don’t think I have very good control over this yet.”

                0544 looked at her glumly. “Our bodies might not be stable.”

                0543 took his hand. “We need to keep moving.” She took a step forward and collapsed to her knees. 0544 joined her on the floor, and the two stared at each other in sad silence. “I’m so tired. And hungry.” She turned to her companion. “I don’t know what I want. I want to leave but I want to sleep. I don’t know.”

                0544 put his hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay. Come one.” He struggled to his feet and helped her to hers, putting her arm around his shoulder. “We’ll go slow until we hear signs of them discovering we’re gone.” She nodded and put her hand out in front of her, ready to move them through the next wall.

 

                “Where the hell are they!? Why did you idiots leave them alone!?” Tesla was furiously storming through the bowels of the ship, screaming at anyone nearby. Curie was on his heels, barking orders to whoever she saw to make sure the ship was searched as thoroughly as possible. “If anything happens to them I will be VERY angry!”

                They arrived in the room where 0543 was receiving injections. He looked around angrily, trying to figure out how she’d gotten out – again, for that matter. The attending scientist was looking at the leather straps, scratching her head in confusion as she inspected them. She looked up, saw Tesla, and snapped to attention. “Captain! Sir!”

                Tesla grabbed the lapel of her lab coat. “WHERE IS 0543!?

                “I don’t know, sir! But the straps on the table!”

                “WHAT ABOUT THEM!?”  
                “They’re still locked and there’s no sign of them being ripped or torn! She should not have been able to get out!” she stammered, looking at her superior in terror. Tesla dropped her, rushing towards the table to confirm was she told him. He scanned everything. The straps showed no signs of being loosened or ripped. The locks holding them in place also hadn’t been touched.

                That was when it dawned on him. The corners of his mouth crept up his cheeks in triumph as he turned to Curie and the other scientist in the room. They stared at him in confusion as he started to chuckle to himself. “The only thing you did wrong was leave her alone. You are correct – there’s no signs of her escaping by any normal means, but the way she escaped is very, very interesting.”

                The scientist looked in Tesla in fear. “What?”

                Curie grinned. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

                Tesla smirked. “I think she escaped with a second Devil Fruit ability.”

 

                The escape was slow moving and a crap shoot at every turn. Moving too much was a risk, but moving too little was just as big a risk. Every time 0543 brought them someplace new, there was a risk it would be a room full of scientists, or Tesla, or the open ocean, or something else just as disastrous. Most often they moved if they heard voices, and so far the strategy was working.

                But neither of them had any idea if they were moving any closer to the top deck or not.

                “This is taking forever. How long have we been doing this?” 0544 whispered. At the moment the pair were hiding out in a room full of bunk beds and lockers, presumably where the scientists or perhaps the crew sailing the ship slept. They were resting on one of the beds in the corner, near a wall in case they needed to make a quick exit.

                “We have to be patient. We’ve gotten this far. I don’t want to just give up now.”

                0544 felt his heart break when she started to cry. He held her, trying to calm her down and hold up her shirt so it didn’t slip through her body. As he watched fur grow on the back of his hands, he wondered just how long these powers were going to stay so . . . volatile. He focused on becoming human again and clenched his fist tight. If they didn’t stabilize, then Tesla had – as impossible as it seemed to him – ruined their lives even worse than they originally thought.

                If they somehow managed to not die during their escape and this didn’t stop, he would never be able to cook again. She would be falling through floors naked all the time. How would they possibly be able to function? He had no idea if this was something the little reindeer or any other doctor could fix – not that he was particularly interested in having more doctors look at him or 0543. He clenched his eyes shut and wanted to cry with her. But he needed to calm her down so they could slip into the next room.

                What he feared was a reality he might not survive long enough to experience for himself.

                It was a quiet moment, but 0544 was on edge and heard almost everything going on around them. The creaking of the ship as the wood and metal whined from its years on the water. The waves were crashing against the sides, and there were seagulls outside cawing at something. There were muffled voices yelling about something – they must have discovered they were missing.

                And that was when the alarms went off.

                0544’s eyes widened and he snapped away from 0543 to cover his ears. 0543 cried out at him, but he was too busy trying to drown out the noise. His head was ringing and his ears were throbbing, and the sensation was so awful that he would have given anything to make the noise stop. He was only vaguely aware of 0543 dragging him through a wall and into another room.

                “What are you doing!? We need to get out of here!”

                “How can you stand all this noise!? They made the alarms louder! It’s awful!” said 0544. He was near tears his head and ears hurt so bad. How was she coping? Was she deaf or something? It was like a Marine fog horn was being directly blasted right next to his head! He clenched his eyes shut, trying to press his hands closer to his head

                “This is bad, this is bad . . .” said 0543, rubbing his shoulders.

                _. . . if the alarms are so loud, why can you still hear her?_

0544’s eyes flew open. How could he still hear 0543? She should have been drowned out by the alarms, but he could understand her perfectly. He wasn’t, however, convinced she had heard him through it all. And why wasn’t she freaking out over the intensity of the sound? It had all but crippled him. No, something was off with him, not her or the alarms.

                _Of course._

                Sometimes, 0544 recalled, animals had better senses than humans – seeing, smelling, touching, whatever. It was like their old crew’s doctor – he had an incredibly strong sense of smell, being a reindeer by birth, and was able to track people and perfumes almost as well as a bloodhound – he could tell what he was making in the kitchen for dinner, right down to the tiniest pinch of spice.

                And the fox he turned into had awfully large ears for a creature so tiny . . .

                “It’s the fox fruit!” he said. “It’s screwing with my hearing!”

                “What!?”

                _She can’t hear your right now – just because your hearing is so great doesn’t mean hers suddenly got that good._ 0544 shook his head and struggled to his feet, looking at her while keeping his hands over his ears. 0543 didn’t know what was going on, but understood enough to grab him by the elbow and lead him to the next room.

 

                Hours passed. No experimental subjects.

                The captain surprised everyone and told them to turn off the alarms and halve the search efforts. “Sir, with all due respect . . . why in the world would you want to decrease the amount of effort we’re putting in to find 0543 and 0544? That seems counter-productive,” Radian questioned, and confused and concerned look on his face.

                 “I’ve realized, Radian, that this little escape of theirs means nothing. We’re in the middle of the ocean – where do they think they’re going to go? Eventually they’ll get tired or hungry, give up this little game of hide and seek, and then we can find out exactly what caused the escape. Right now it’s a waste of resources – I’d like your men to continue the search – and have plenty of seastone nets handy to catch them, of course – but I’d prefer to have a meeting with Curie over the matter to discuss the day’s events, and have the other scientists prepare for every test they can think of so that we’re ready to proceed upon their recapture.”

                Radian thought this over. It was true. They were are least a few days away from dry land and with the unpredictable weather pattern on the Grand Line it would be nothing less than suicide for 0543 and 0544 to try and escape. Wherever they were hiding it was still on the ship – even if it took a day to find them, they would be able to find them.

                “In that case I’ll have some of the sailors waiting in the galley for them if they think they’re going to try and steal food. I’ll also make sure all of the Den Den Mushis and the Eternal Poses are rounded up and in my possession  – if they figure out what our travel pattern has been and they can get in contact with their captain, that could be a problem.”

                Tesla nodded. “Excellent plan. Now go and get it done.”

 

                0543 had brought 0544 into a wardrobe or a closet – she wasn’t sure which it was, nor did she care. 0544 seemed to calm down, the soft coats, shirts, and pants around them muffling the sound of the sirens. She rubbed his shoulders as they sat on the floor, looking at him in worry. “Are you okay?” she whispered. 0544 looked at her in tears, nodding. “Did the Devil Fruit do something to your hearing?” He nodded again. 0543 pulled him into an embrace. “We’ll think of something. Don’t worry. Maybe you’ll be able to tune it out after a while,” she said, rubbing his back.

                 0544 relaxed in her arms, and then the sirens suddenly stopped. They both looked up and around, breathing heavily as they wondered what was going on. “They’ve probably alerted everyone on board we’ve escaped – no reason to have it on anymore. Or maybe they’re trying to lure us out – make us THINK that they gave up.”

                “I’m not showing myself until we’re on a lifeboat, in the water, and on our way,” she said.

                “Agreed,” said 0544. He swallowed. “So . . . if we don’t make it . . .”

                “Hold me,” she said. “I don’t . . . I don’t want to die . . .”

                “I don’t either.”

                “But how can we escape without dying?”

 

                **_Don’t worry about that._**

**_Just get off the ship and I’ll think of something._ **

 

                0544 pressed his forehead to hers. “You’re an amazing navigator. You can predict the weather on the Grand Line, navigate us up Reverse Mountain . . . you were the one that got us all safely up the Knock-Up Stream. If anyone can help us survive this . . . it’s you,” he said. They squeezed hands, and then heard something horrible outside of the closet that made their blood freeze.

 

                “You seem positive it’s 0543’s second Devil Fruit,” said Curie. Tesla was leading her back to his chambers for a private meeting to discuss the next step in the experiment, now that it appeared they finally had live results on their hands. “Considering the nature of 0544’s second fruit it’s quite plausible he could have slipped out on its own if he shrank out of the shock collar.”

                Tesla nodded as he opened the door to let her through. “Of course that’s possible, but that doesn’t explain 0543’s examination room. Considering that there was no sign of a struggle with her escape, the cuffs were locked, and all keys have been accounted for, I don’t see how 0544 could have done it – even with telekinesis at his disposal he couldn’t pick the lock without seeing the interior components of it. Hers was the only unknown fruit, and several of the fruits listed but not illustrated could have done it.”

                “Sir, as exciting as it is that she may have developed her second ability, we don’t know what it is and a CLASSIC trait of most Logia class fruits is intangibility. We could have accidentally picked up something dangerous, like the Rumble Rumble Fruit –which, might I add, has NOT been sighted in at least the last ten years – that has given her the kind of power to kill every last one of us on this ship.”

                “And that is where I disagree. Even if she does have something that lethal, 0543 wouldn’t use it. They’ve been here so long that they’ve lost the will to fight back – that’s why, before today, there was no need to continue using sea stone restraints on them. They just stay where we put them quietly and cooperate.”

                “Sir . . . they’ve escaped. I wouldn’t call that ‘cooperating’ with us,” Curie said dryly.

                Tesla paused, then nodded. “Well . . . yes, that’s true, but they’re being non-aggressive. Not completely passive, but they aren’t trying to kill the men. They’re running around the ship right now and since no one has reported a sighting we can only assume that the two of them are trying to avoid a confrontation. Even with their Devil Fruits they cannot fight back – they’re running and hiding.”

 

                The conversation going on outside of the closet was terrifying. 0543 and 0544 listened carefully (although there was little question that 0544 was getting more of the conversation that 0543) as their primary tormentors discussed their fate. They gripped hands tightly, only whispering to each other in the quietest voices they could manage, barely even mouthing the words.

                0543 looked at her cellmate with a frown. “They didn’t know what they were feeding me?”

                “If they knew you’d be able to do this they wouldn’t have left you alone for a second.”

                “So now what?”  
                “We wait for them to leave before we do anything.”

 

                “That may be true, sir, but what if this detracts from the results?” asked Curie.

                “How could it? The second abilities are working. We would be able to change course and begin thoroughly investigating exactly how their bodies are affected. We’ll need to have them on 24 hour vital monitors to see if it’s caused any changes in blood pressure or heart rate or anything of the sort but once we’ve determined changes there we’ll want to vivisect again to see if there have been any internal changes.”

                “And risk losing them again? 0543 went into shock and nearly died on the table – I must respectfully disagree with that plan,” said Curie. “My recommendation would be to immediately request contact with a World Government official to display our findings with a petition to have your bounty removed. At that point all we would need to do is force them to display their powers for the official and we’ll be lauded as heroes.” She crossed her legs and leaned forward. “Remember, sir, not only would we have discovered how to do something even Dr. Vegapunk has not figured out, but we’d be giving them two dangerous pirates.”

                “And, if we have them kept in a World Government facility, we’ll have access to more equipment and supplies than we could ever dream of this way,” said Tesla. He was starting to get excited. “We wouldn’t need to keep them in the same cell to prevent cross-contamination. And of course they would be lined in seastone, especially 0543’s considering hers has led to their escape.”

 

                0543 and 0544 clutched their hands together. If they were found, they would be separated.

 

                Tesla yawned. “As I said, this escape is an annoyance but nothing to worry about – they won’t get far and they will eventually tire out. Have the men keep searching – I want to get some sleep. I expect them to be found by the time I awaken, and we’ll want to get right to work on investigating what’s happened.”

                “Are you sure, sir?”

                “Positive. They can’t leave and I want to be well rested for when we take a look at our result.”

 

                Minutes passed in agony. 0543 and 0544 knew that they had to wait until Tesla was asleep before they made their move – if they waited until he left, well, he might try to get dressed before that happened, and then they’d be caught and that would be the end of it. They could hear him puttering around his room before the lights went out.

                The sound of snoring came minutes later.

                “What now?” asked 0543.

                0544 glared into the darkness towards the door of the wardrobe. “Should we kill him?”

                0543 looked towards the sound of his voice in terror. “I . . . I . . . what if he . . . I . . .”

                He squeezed her hand, and felt himself clenching his own fist instead. _She’s intangible again. But why?_   “I’m scared of him, too,” he said. “But . . . think about everything he’s done to us. Everything he would do to us if he figured out what’s happened to us. He’ll just hurt us again. Hurt other people. I know he only targets pirates but I doubt most of them deserved it.”

                “If we try to kill him and we screw up . . . it’s going to get a lot worse,” she said. “We’re underweight, we’re weak, we’re exhausted . . . there’s too many things that could go wrong. We’re probably too scared of him as well – we could choke or panic or something. The best thing to do is just leave.”

                She was right. The chances of Tesla successfully either getting help or kicking their asses – Devil Fruits or not – were too high to risk. He didn’t want to think of what the punishment would be. Instead, he quietly nodded, let her take his hand, and watched in horror as they walked out of the wardrobe and into Tesla’s bedroom.

                0544 wanted to protest, but saw a look in 0543’s eyes. _She is our navigator . . ._ He swallowed, and let her lead him through the room until they reached the door. She pressed her ear to the door, listening for commotion outside. She turned to him and nodded, and prepared to bring them through the door.

                “And just where do the two of you think you’re going?”

 


	27. 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 0543 and 0544 are nearly recaptured by Tesla. 0544 meets another hallucination.

                0544 and 0543 froze in their tracks and slowly turned to see Tesla sitting up in his bed, looking at them with a gleeful grin. 0544 stepped between 0543 and the scientist, glaring the man down. “Had I known she’d been given the Phase Phase Fruit, I would have never taken her out of seastone cuffs – at least, that’s what I would assume she’s eaten based on her method of escape and what I just witnessed. Apparently now that she knows that little trick you’ve gotten the idea that you can leave.”

                0544 tried to stand his ground to protect his friend, but his legs felt weak. His legs, once his most powerful weapon and greatest defense, felt like they would buckle over at any moment. He gripped the ends of his shirt, gritting his teeth and fighting back tears. They couldn’t get this far for nothing. No, not after everything they had been through, and what Tesla implied he would do.

                0543 put a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t do this,” she whispered. “I can’t lose you.”

                0544 felt his heart start to pound – he was scared, and he could feel the fur starting to sprout again. He struggled to keep it from happening, but ultimately ended up stopping in half-fox, half-human form. Tesla was beaming – now he knew it had worked on both of them, and that meant their one shot at escape had turned into a complete disaster.

                “Fascinating – that looked remarkably involuntary.”

                _What do I do, what do I DO!?_

                0544 heard a voice nearby. “We shall protect her, just like we always have and always will, but remember this: if so much as a scratch gets on you, it will break her heart.” 0544 could see a vision of himself – or rather, his old self – in a white suit of armor with a white satin cape, sitting cross-legged on Tesla’s desk. He put his hand over his heart, closed his eyes, and bowed his head. “Even if the Love Cook has fallen, Kishido will never die.”

                0544 swallowed. Right. Protect 0543 – and himself – and figure out a way to get them the hell out of there. And not just escaping to their deaths – he was going to find a way to get them to an island, get them better, and get them back to their captain and the others. He tried to straighten his stance and narrowed his eyes.

                Kishido smiled. “Good. Now all you have to do is escape. You can do it. You’re her white knight.”

                _Luffy – we’re going to find our way back to you, and to Zoro and Usopp and Chopper and Robin and Franky and Brook and the Sunny and then we’re going to draw a map of the world and find the All Blue!_ He growled at Tesla. They were going to do all of that, but he had to know one thing first. “How did you do it?” asked 0544. “How did you do this to us?”

                Tesla paused, then got out of bed – 0543 and 0544 stepped backwards away from him.

“You should be gracious. You are important parts of scientific history.” They didn’t respond. “I don’t need to tell you how I did it. All you need to know is that you each have two Devil Fruit abilities and when I tell you to demonstrate to a Marine official that you have these abilities, then you demonstrate them, or you don’t want to KNOW how long you’ll be in the Tank.”

                 0544 wasn’t sure what he wanted to do. Had it been a year earlier and he was still the person he was before this mess started, this stand-off would have been over in seconds. And even now 0544 knew that his Devil Fruits gave him an edge over the scientist – for crying out loud he could throw the man out the window using only his brain!

                So why was he frozen in place?

                Tesla walked around them, grinning. “You know your places. You can’t fight.”

                0543 realized, in horror, that maybe Tesla was right.

                0544 squeezed her hand, and he could hear her pulse racing. It confirmed his earlier suspicion. While Tesla was letting the terrible truth of their situation sink in, 0544 was looking at the walls of the chamber, then settled on the one directly behind their captor. They might never be able to fight Tesla, but they could run. “I have an idea,” he said slowly.

                Tesla grinned. “Cooperate with me and spend less time in the Tank?”

                “What’s your idea?” 0543 asked, never taking her eyes off Tesla.

                “Follow my lead.”

                Tesla smirked. “Trying to concoct an escape plan right in front of me? Now that’s just stupid.”

                0544 gripped his friend’s hand. “We can do this,” he said slowly.

                The scientist stopped smiling. “You’re both quite ill-behaved. Don’t you get it? It’s been a year. Your captain isn’t coming for you. Escape is impossible. You’ve both eaten Devil Fruits – you can’t swim and we’re in the middle of the ocean. The only option you have is to stay here.” His gaze darkened. “And let me remind you – both of you came onto this ship of your own free will.”

                “Come on now – you can do it,” Kishido said, giving 0544 an encouraging smile.

                0544 stepped to the side. “You have to trust me,” he said. He took a step back, and another step to the side, and now he was behind 0543. Her eyes widened in fear – why was 0544 putting her between himself and the scientist?! She wanted to panic and yell at him, but clenched his fists and nodded. Of course she was going to trust him.

                Tesla took a step.

                Running on nothing but adrenaline, 0544 scooped up 0543 in his arms and bolted for the wall behind Tesla. The move stunned the scientist long enough for 0544 to maneuver around him and his desk and for 0543 to figure out what she needed to do, gripping her friend’s shoulder tightly as he charged through the wall.

                Tesla screamed. “GET BACK HERE! I OWN YOU!”

 

                The ship was buzzing with the search party again – now that they knew what 0543 was capable of, pirates and scientists were patrolling the ship with seastone nets and handcuffs, ready to trap the pair as soon as they were discovered. And yet somehow, they were nowhere to be found, and none of the pirates could figure out why.

                This was fine with 0543 and 0544.

                “You’re right – it really is the perfect hiding place,” said 0544.

                0543 nodded. “They wouldn’t think to try and find us HERE. And if they try to get in, the door is big and noisy enough that we’d have plenty of time to bolt.” She closed her eyes. “Besides, we need to rest. This is taking a long time – we haven’t eaten in a long time and we aren’t used to this kind of running around anymore.”

                0544 sighed, looking around the holding cell for what he hoped and prayed was the last time. As horrible as that little room was, it was the “safest” place on the ship. Here, it was most often just the two of them. They could talk. They could comfort and console each other. They could hold each other just because, or when it was time to go to sleep. They had all of their meals in here, and above all else, this was the one room where the scientists rarely tried to hurt them.

                Not as much, at the very least . . .

                “I’m scared,” she said. “We’re so close . . . I don’t know if I can take it if we don’t get away.”

                “Don’t talk like that,” said 0544. “We’re going to get away.” Carefully, he went to each wall and pressed his ear to it at different intervals. 0543 watching him, and knew what he was up to. _He’s listening to figure out what’s surrounding the cell. That’s a good idea. If he’d know his hearing was so good earlier we could have used that . . . but that doesn’t matter now. What does matter is that it can get us out._

                0543 stood and her friend started to walk back towards her, and 0544 picked her up again. “That wall,” he said, starting to move towards the opposite wall. “There’s no one in the room behind it. It’s the safest one to go into. The wall behind the sink and the toilet leads to what sounds like a boiler room, and there are three men there. It sounds like there are people in the room behind us, too.”

                0543 widened her eyes. “Is your hearing really that good now?”

                “I guess. I hope I can learn to tune it out.”

                0543 squeezed his hand as they stepped through the wall. “Because we’re going to find a way to another ship, or an island, and we’re going to get better, and then we’re going to find a way to get back to our friends.” She smiled through teary eyes. “And I’m going to draw a map of the world, and we’re going to make sure All Blue is on that map in big letters.”

                0544 nodded. “We’re going to make it. We have to.”

 

                “We’re close to the deck.”

                They were several feet from a steel door leading to the outside. For the first time in a year, through a small circular pane of glass, they could see the sky. It was dark and cloudy and they couldn’t even see the stars, but it was the sky, and out there they knew they there was wind and salt and seagulls and everything else they’d been pining after for a year.

                0544 squeezed his friend’s hand. “Let’s go.”

                They ran to the door, then had 0544 put his ear against it. “There’s definitely men out there but they’re far away.” He peeked through the port hole, and his eyes widened in excitement. He turned to 0543 with what might have been the closest thing to a smile either of them had had in a year.  “And we’re only twenty feet away from a lifeboat.”

_One year and several months earlier . . ._

 

                _Somewhere, in the waters between the island of Jaya and the metropolis of Water 7, sailed a tiny caravel ship carrying seven pirates on a great adventure. There was a captain, and a swordsman, and a navigator and a marksman, as well as a cook, a doctor, and an archaeologist. They didn’t always show it, but they cared about each other very much as they traveled from island to island._

_They were not fighting tyrannical pirates who ruled over islands of small villages. They were not escorting princesses to their homelands to stop a war. They weren’t exploring islands ruled by beasts long through dead, or where snow blanketed the ground every day of the year, or where an ocean of sand stretched as far as the eye could see. They weren’t searching for a lost city of gold, and they weren’t trying to stop a mad man who thought he was God from killing them and everyone around them._

_Today, they were ‘camping’ on the deck of their ship. The pirates had been experiencing smooth sailing for a long time and although it was nice to be able to relax a little, they were experiencing some cabin fever and it was decided to attempt ‘camping’. So, they were huddled together around a make-shift Flaming-Wreckage-Proof fire pit, where everyone roasted marshmallows and hotdogs on sticks._

_And when night fell, they started to tell ghost stories._

Author’s Notes

 

The Voice’s identity revealed for sure next chapter.

 

Dixxy


	28. 27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 0543 and 0544 get off the boat, but a storm is brewing. The Going Merry feels helpless at the bottom of the sea after recalling a time when the Straw Hats were ghost stories on her deck.

                It was the first time they’d felt the wind in a year.

                It was cold out, and the hospital shirts that had been their wardrobe for the last year were not nearly enough. 0543 shivered, clutching herself while she looked around. She looked up at the stars and paused, marveling at the vastness of the sky. It was a crystal clear night, and the stars speckled the sky. She wanted to cry, because even though she’d seen the night sky thousands of times before, she wasn’t sure when she’d last taken a good long look at it. Now it felt like she was seeing it for the first time.

                “Come on – we’ll have plenty of time to star gaze later,” said 0544, gently touching her elbow. “It’s okay – I get it. You know I do. But right now isn’t the time.” 0543 looked at him and nodded. If they were caught staring up at the sky, they would never see it again. She moved her hand to his, and together they started to move towards the lifeboat.

                In all, the dash to the lifeboat didn’t take very long, but it felt like an eternity. Moving that fast and that free was unfamiliar, yet it was something they used to do so well. Running from Marines or other pirates, or headlong after their captain into battle, or even just around the Thousand Sunny or the Going Merry to keep on top of the ship and making sure everything was all right. But now their movements were jerky and what should have been no more than a five second walk was now a thirty second scramble, ending with 0543 phasing them through the canvas covering the lifeboat and into the vessel that would bring them their long awaited freedom.

                There the two of them lay, quiet and wondering, praying that no one had seem them. All they needed to do was figure out how to get the lifeboat down into the water and away from the Newton. Then . . . they didn’t know where they would go. But anywhere was better than there. Anywhere. Even if they were picked up by Arlong or Crocodile or someone else who hated them . . . it would be better than here.

                0544 pulled 0543 into his arms. She returned the embrace, taking a deep breath and slowly breathing out. Maybe it was best that they rested for a little bit. This whole escape would have taken minutes before, but in their weakened state it had taken hours and they were both exhausted. She’d never felt so tired in her life.

                What could have been minutes or hours later, they untied the boat from the main ship, 0544 using his first power to keep the boat from changing position too quickly and making a loud splash. “It’s hard,” he said, gripping one of the seats. His brow was dripping with sweat and his cheeks were wet with tears.  He was the only thing keeping the boat where it was, the tiny vessel free from the bigger main ship and hovering above the water. “It hurts.”

                “You can do this,” 0543 whispered. “I know you can.”

                0544 started to push them away from the ship, giving the tiny lifeboat the outward appearance that it was floating or flying away. But the farther they floated, the lower they went, until they were finally several boat lengths away from the hull of the Newton. They pushed the canvas into the water and looked at the ship – it still didn’t appear as if anyone had seen their escape, but that was when they felt the rain.

                0543’s eyes widened as old navigation skills awakened. “There’s a storm coming,” she said. 0544 swallowed as she continued. “It’s a big one. The Newton will probably survive, but our boat . . .” She sunk down into the boat, and her companion followed her lead. “We’re going to die, or Tesla is going to recapture us.”

                The water was getting choppy.

                0544 embraced her. “Let’s cherish this moment.”

                0543 closed her eyes. “Always.”

                The boat continued to rock, and little by little, exhaustion began to overtake them. They were too weak. They were too tired. And even with their lives hanging in the balance, they couldn’t keep their eyes open and stay awake. And just after they passed out, someone on board their floating prison spotted their life boat and called for backup.

 

_Over a year earlier . . ._

_“But the barkeeper said, ‘Why, that’s impossible! There’s no way he saved you last night!’ To which the young woman replied, ‘But you see, my dear barkeep, that I am alive and well – someone must have pulled me from the burning house!’ ‘No, no, you don’t understand – the knight you spoke of, the one whose armor bore the symbol of the moon, died fifty years ago!’”_

_“Aw, that wasn’t so scary, Usopp! That ghost was nice!” Chopper said._

_Usopp crossed his arms. Even though the crew was sometimes annoyed by the sniper’s tall tales, for an occasion like this his stories were welcome. He was a better storyteller than anyone else on the ship, excluding perhaps Nami (well, if you asked Sanji at least) or Robin (although everyone agreed she had an almost clinical form that was great for relaying information but not entertainment . . . unless you asked Sanji).“Well of course! Not all ghosts are evil!”_

_“So they aren’t all like the food that came back to life and killed the dinner party guests like in Sanji’s story, or the ghosts of the men murdered by the cursed swordsman in Zoro’s story, or the haunted treasure from Nami’s story, or-“ Robin smiled and gently put a hand over the little reindeer’s mouth before he got too carried away._

_“Of course not. There are hundreds of ghosts stories going back hundreds of years ago. Most reported incidents of ghosts are mere sightings – no actual harm comes to those who see it. Perhaps a face in a window, or a glowing figure walking around a grave yard at night – certainly unsettling images, but they are just that – images.” Robin smiled. “The only kind of ghost that could hurt you is a poltergeist, but stories of that variety are very rare.”_

_“What about ghost ships?” asked Luffy. “Shanks liked to tell ghost ship stories!”_

_“Ah, yes, ghost ships.” Robin opened one of the books on ghost stories she had brought to the camping circle and began to flip through the pages. “Ghost ships are usually bad omens. They look like badly damaged, crewless ships floating across the seas at night, waiting to bring bad luck to all who come across it.”_

_“But you said most ghosts aren’t scary!” Chopper squealed, clinging to Zoro’s head in terror._

_“Most, not all. And I suppose the danger would depend on the ship. Perhaps a ship that was used for evil and poorly cared for by her crew would be more likely to spell doom for those she crossed paths with, but who is to say that a friendly ghost ship may not be spotted? Perhaps still showing the wear and tear of her ethereal state, but harmless, none the less.”_

_“Do you really believe in all that, Robin?” asked Nami. “It doesn’t seem like your style.”_

_Robin smiled. “The kinds of ghost stories a culture tells – if they tell them at all – can be an important part of their history. Some cultures worship the spirits of their ancestors, while others fear the spirits of the dead. It can say a lot about a society, so it’s certainly something to consider when researching a new civilization.”_

_“Sensei used to tell lots of ghost stories to his students – mostly they were cautionary tales about respecting swordsmanship and your sword – or swords – but they were definitely a part of the culture at my dojo,” said Zoro. “There are things to learn from them, even if they’re about as true as one of Usopp’s whoppers.”_

_“HEY!”_

_“Hey Nami, can we go find a ghost ship? I wanna see one!”_

_“Luffy, Log Poses don’t point to ghost ships,” Nami said. “And why do you want to see one?”_

                _“Because it would be cool!”_

_“Idiot.”_

_“Hey, how does a ship become a ghost ship anyways?” asked Chopper._

_“Well, I guess it could be one of two things. One, it could be a haunted ship – the ship itself isn’t a ghost, but its crew consists of spirits – or a spirit, I guess. Or two, it could be a sunken or destroyed ship wandering the sea alone at night, waiting to find unwitting victims to join its crew on a never-ending voyage to the spirit world,” said Usopp._

_“WAH! THAT’S SCARY!”_

_“Calm down, Chopper! We’re not going to let you hop onto a ghost ship and get carried off!” said Sanji. He took a drag on his cigarette. “You are a valued member of this crew, we love you, and I can’t let our emergency food supply just take off because some stupid ghost ship wants to take him on a wild ride.”_

_“WAH, DON’T EAT ME!”_

_“Idiot! You just made it worse!”_

_“Ah, Nami-san is so beautiful when she’s beating me over the head!”_

_Luffy laughed and looked at the Going Merry’s figurehead. “I wonder what kind of a ghost ship the Going Merry would be? Would we all haunt her, or would she be that other kind that Usopp was talking about?” He leaned back on his hands, looked up at the sky, and smiled. “I bet the Going Merry would be a good little ghost ship. There’s no way she’d be a bad ghost ship!”_

_Usopp put his hands on the deck and looked down at the wood with a grin. “Of course not. She’s a good ship.” He lowered his eyebrows. “But even though she’s in rough shape the Going Merry isn’t going to be sinking anytime soon! We’re going to sail her to the end of the Grand Line! So don’t talk about that ghost ship nonsense, Luffy!”_

_“Well, it’s not a ghost ship, but I believe that Marine vessel is ready to fire on us. I think it would be wise if we do something about that first,” Robin said, looking over her right shoulder. The crew yelped in surprise, scrambled to their feet, and readied themselves to defend the Going Merry . . ._

 

                Deep beneath the slowly brewing storm, thousands of fish swam in the ocean. Joining them were all sorts of other undersea sights – there were sea kings and caves and sunken treasure and all sorts of strange creatures, big or small, swimming along the deep sea currents, barely affected by the maelstrom up above. Despite it all, it was quiet, and dark, and a peaceful place to rest.

                And resting on the sea floor in the middle of it all was the wreck of the Going Merry.

                She had been under water for more than a year now. She still bore the scorch marks from her funeral, and was still lying in two pieces. Her hull was covered in barnacles and seaweed, and the metal parts of the ship had all rusted over months ago. Her mast was was lying on its side, snapped in half. The paint on her figurehead was chipped and peeling, but the friendly smile remained.

                But there was no peaceful slumber for the little ship, and her spirit wasn’t smiling.

                **_They’re out there . . . but . . . they won’t . . . they won’t make it . . ._**

She could sense it. Her Sneaky Thief and Pervy Cook were outside of that horrible other ship and away from the Bad Man who was hurting them, but they were tired and weak and sick and they were in a tiny little lifeboat. Even if they were at their full strength, they were too far from land, and if a wave knocked them overboard they would be done for.

                She remembered what it was like before. Sneaky Thief liked to sit on her deck and read in the sunlight, and did her best to keep her safe by telling Rubber Captain and Nose Captain and everyone else what to do to keep her from crashing or sinking. She would sleep soundly below her neck, warm and cozy in her bed.

                Pervy Cook made her kitchen a warm, friendly place, even when he was trying to keep Rubber Captain from getting dinner (or lunch, or breakfast, or snacks . . . or anything, really) early and defending her from the Military Men and the Bad Pirates who tried to attack her. He wouldn’t let anything happen to her, either.

                If she could have, she would have cried.

                **_It’s not fair . . . they tried so hard to survive . . . it can’t end like this . . ._**

And yet there was nothing she could do. She was sunken and had been sunken for even longer than her two crewmates had been captured. She was rotting and covered in sea bottom junk and unable to do anything. All she could do was feel whenever the Bad Man sailed his ship over her resting spot, where she could sense them as they cried and the he hurt them.

                **_I have to . . . find a way . . . to do something . . ._**

_“I bet the Going Merry would be a good little ghost ship.”_

**_I remember that night . . . everyone was so happy . . . they all laughed and smiled . . ._ **

Rubber Captain and Baby Sister were having trouble finding Pervy Cook and Sneaky Thief – they weren’t anywhere nearby. They couldn’t save them, and if she didn’t do something, they were going to die. She couldn’t bear the thought of any of her crew dying so horribly – not when they had cared about her so much, not when they had so much to live for and so much to find.

                The Going Merry focused as hard as she could. There was only one thing she could do. She had to trust that the stories they had told that night were true, and that there was such a thing as a “good little ghost ship”, just like Rubber Captain thought she could be. If she could do that, then maybe she could help them one last time . . .

_**This is . . . for my crewmates . . .**_

The sand at the bottom of the sea was shimmering.


	29. 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Going Merry becomes a ghost ship. Tesla refuses to believe what he's seeing. 0543 and 0544 are left at an island that smells like apples.

                The top deck of the Newton was in chaos.

                Orders were being yelled out – Radian was yelling to the crewman to go after the escapees, and Tesla was furiously screaming he would have heads if his research was lost. Pirates scrambled across the deck in a furious attempt to turn the ship around, but gathering storm clouds was making this difficult.

                Visibility was low. Waves crashed against the ship. 0543 and 0544’s lifeboat rocked violently.

                Curie scurried on deck. “Tesla, sir!” she said.

                Tesla turned to his first mate. “They’re gotten away from the ship and these idiots haven’t gotten to them yet!” He grabbed Radian as he walked by. The navigator’s eyes widened as the captain started to yell at him. “Why aren’t you sending the men after them, you idiot!? Don’t we have other lifeboats, you dim witted, uneducated blockhead?!”

                Although the pirate’s jaw dropped at first, he stood his ground and retaliated. “It’s too dangerous to send any of our men after them at this distance – we need to get closer or else we’d risk losing crew AND your test subjects!” Radian barked back, roughly removing himself from Tesla and Curie’s presence to give out an order. Tesla sneered, barely able to see the lifeboat anymore. How DARE they get away from him?

                “Do whatever it takes to get them back. Am I clear?” said Tesla.

                “You’d have the men die to get them back!?” Radian said.

                “The seamen – including you – are expendable. My team, myself, and the test subjects are not,” said Tesla. He grabbed Radian’s shirt and slammed him into a crate. “And I would suggest you remember that unless you want to be fused to the bottom of a lifeboat. _Do I make myself clear?_ ” The navigator nodded, Tesla dropped him and went back to ordering the crew around.

                He needed to get his test subjects back. _Now._

                **_You’re done._**

The entire crew of the _Newton_ stopped and looked around. The sailors and scientists alike were confused alike. Whatever the voice was, it sounded like it had come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. What _was that voice?_ Tesla stopped and looked around. “Who the hell said that? Show yourself!”

                **_Gladly._**

                “UNKNOWN OBJECT AT TEN O’CLOCK!”

                Tesla turned his attention to a strange, blurry object not far from his test subjects. It seemed to have shape (though what it was Tesla couldn’t quite tell). It was thick, but it was transparent. He shook his head. “THAT’S A PATCH OF FOG, YOU IDIOTS! GO AFTER MY TEST SUBJECTS! BRING BACK 0543 AND 0544 IF YOU KNOW WHAT’S GOOD FOR YOU!” he bellowed.

                **_No._**

                Tesla screamed. “WHO SAID THAT!? WHO KEEPS DOING THAT!?”

                **_I did._**

                It was then that the mass on the water passed on top of his subjects and seemed to solidify. Tesla ran to the edge of the _Newton_ and squinted. The cloud formation was taking shape, shimmering in the rain and the wind as it stretched and squashed and seemed to take on the faintest hint of color. Tesla’s eyes widened.

                It was a ship. A small caravel with a sheep’s head for a mast was heading towards his ship.

                The crew quieted, in awe of the ghost ship before them. Her sails were wispy and see-through, tangled with long stretches of kelp. The wood was a sickly gray color, barnacles covering much of her hull, which seemed to have a crack running up the middle as if she’d split in two. The paint on the ram’s head was chipped and faded, but it was still clear where the eyes and the innocent smile of the beast were supposed to be. The ship almost looked fanciful and friendly, were it not for the menace of its condition.

                It was the strangest looking ghost ship any of the men had seen. They murmured amongst themselves in fear and awe – weren’t ghost ships supposed to be full of skeletons and spider-webs and have demonic looking figureheads? This ship was nothing like the legends – was it some kind of trick to lure them into a sense of security, or was it actually that . . . harmless?

                “It’s a mirage at sea!” said Tesla. The crew stayed put, too terrified to move in the presence of what they refused to believe was simply a trick of the light or a mirage on the water, despite their captain’s screams and yells. “Stop staring and bring me back my specimen! We have no time to waste on cloud watching!”

                **_If you touch them you’ll just hurt them again._**

                Tesla sneered. “WHO KEEPS SAYING THAT!?

                **_You’re looking right at me._**

Tesla balked as the ship turned itself around, its figurehead facing the _Newton_. The spots where its eyes should have been would have been staring right at him – like it wanted to address him directly. But its face didn’t change – it just kept smiling, unmoving – not even the waves were rocking the ship. _Did it just turn around to face me?_ Tesla wondered. _What in the world is this?_

“Sir, I don’t think we should argue with the ghost ship,” said a crewmember. Tesla screamed, but he couldn’t tell which of his crew had said it, and none of them seemed willing to give up their comrade to the captain. He would deal with them all later – see how they liked skipping breakfast the next morning.

                **_I can hear them crying when the ship comes here._**

“Ships cannot talk,” said Tesla. “Ships are inanimate objects made from dead trees.”

                The mysterious voice laughed. **_Ships can be loved. They can be part of their crews._**

“Nonsense!” Tesla yelled. “Ships are a tools! One does not love their tools!”

                **_I was loved._**

“Sir, you’re arguing with an entity about whether or not it exists. This is a logical impossibility.”

                Tesla turned to glare at Curie. “There IS a scientific explanation for this! There MUST be!”

                The ship began to move. **_Believe what you want. But I won’t let you keep hurting them._**

It was at this point Tesla realized the severity of what this . . . giant mass hallucination . . . was implying. “You actually care about them? They’re shells of people now – it took a year to beat the rebellion out of them. The only thing they’re good for now is the continuance of my research. So, give them back to me right now.”

                **_You’re wrong._**

“And just how am I wrong?” asked Tesla. He smirked. “You’ve seen what they look like.”

                **_I know them better than you ever will._**

**_I’ve watched them laugh._ **

**_I’ve watched them cry._ **

**_And despite it all, they kept going._ **

**_They have dreams, and they’re going to get there with Rubber Captain and the others._ **

**_Sneaky Thief is going to draw a map of the world._ **

**_Pervy Cook is going to find the All Blue._ **

Tesla scoffed. “So you’re ‘saving’ them so they can chase fairy tales?”

                **_They aren’t fairy tales._**

“Foolish mirage.”

**_I’m taking them away from you, now._ **

Tesla’s eyes widened. “GET THEM! GET THEM NOW!”

                **_They’re my nakama._**

**_Of course I have to save them._ **

                With a speed that the Newton couldn’t possibly match, the ghost ship began to glide away. Before Tesla or anyone could react, the ship began to fade into the storm, unaffected by the howling winds and rain, vanishing as quickly as it had appeared – haunting sails, broken hull, and stupid smiling farm animal all gone.

                And it took 0543 and 0544 with it.

 

                0544 wasn’t really sure he was conscious. He knew a storm was coming, and he knew the chances of the two of them surviving in the open sea on that lifeboat were slim. Survival meant that Tesla’s crew would have picked them up – they would have been punished, and then things would have gotten even worse than before – separation, being put on display for some World Government officials, and spending whatever amount of time he had left as Tesla’s guinea pig.

                The other option was sinking to the depths of Davy Jones’ locker.

                Fine by him. He was tired of being poked and prodded and stabbed. He and 0543 would finally be able to rest. It would be scary – they’d try to stick together, holding on tight until their lungs filled with water and their lives ended as they made the slow descent to the ocean floor. They’d be gone long before their bodies reached the sandy bottom.

                He opened his eyes. He was too weak to look around, but he was confused by what he saw.

                They were inside of a ship – definitely not the _Newton_ , but somehow it was familiar. He couldn’t put his finger on it. Whatever this ship was it looked like shit – the wood was water-logged grey and covered in barnacles. He could barely tell they were in a galley, what with how rusted out the oven and the sink were.

                _Funny. I think I . . . know this kitchen._

0544 looked around, and his eyes widened. “Merry,” he said.

                **_Shh – it’s okay. Go back to sleep._**

“Merry!?” he called out. 0543 whimpered beside him. He sat up. It was the table and chairs they all sat at to have meals in. This was the place he spent most of his waking hours in during the early days of his life as a pirate. But now it was all wet and rotted and rusted away, and he started to cry. It had to be her. _Luffy and the others couldn’t find us . . . so she came to get us. Just like always._ “Merry . . . is it really you?”

                **_Shh . . . you’ve been through a lot._**

“Thank you,” he said, wiping the corners of his eyes.

                **_It’s okay – but you have to lie down and get better._**

**_Everything’s going to be fine now._ **

**_But please rest._ **

0544 was beside himself. He wanted to do so much. He wanted to cook in the old galley. He wanted to run through the rigging and gaze out at the horizon from the crow’s nest. He wanted to pick tangerine’s from the trees outside, and serve lemonade to the girls, and maybe sit in Luffy’s special seat because of course that had to be there, too, if she was really, really here.

                **_No, no, no – you can’t do that._**

**_You have to go to sleep._ **

**_It’s okay – I’m going to find a safe place for you._ **

0544 was sobbing. “Thank you. Thank you.”

                **_You’re welcome._**

**_But please . . . rest._ **

0544 obeyed, wrapping his arms around 0543. She hadn’t woken up. Part of him wanted her to so she could see where they were. But he knew that she had to keep sleeping so she could get better, too. They’d gotten themselves away from Tesla, and now that they were safe, all they had to do was rest and try to put their lives back together. He closed his eyes, and knew that even though they were finally free, it was far from over.

                0544 would only remember his talk with his old friend as a vague dream.

 

                It was hard watching them go.

                Maybe even harder than the first time she had to watch them leave. When they left that time, they were safe. They were sad to see her go, but they had everyone and the Strange Robot Man built her Baby Sister (whom she desperately wished she had been given a chance to meet – she would have liked to have wished her off on her maiden voyage) for them to go sailing on. Pervy Cook would get a chance to cook in Baby Sister’s galley, and Sneaky Thief would draw her maps in one of Baby Sister’s cabins, too.

                But now she was leaving these two alone, skinny and underfed, pale and sick, barely dressed and shivering. She wanted to do something more for them – keep them below her deck until they were warm and fed and laughing and smiling again. But she couldn’t do that – her wood was rotting and soaked and broken and she had no food or blankets to give them. Getting them away from the man who was hurting them was all she could do.

                She wanted to find Rubber Captain and Nose Captain and Baby Sister and Sleepy Swordsman and Smart Lady and Pretty Princess and Big Duckie and Fuzzy Doctor and Strange Robot Man and Dead Music Man and Ballerina Okama but she couldn’t find them, and every hour that passed brought Pervy Cook and Sneaky Thief closer to death. She couldn’t keep them much longer. She had to get them somewhere warm and dry, anywhere, even if it wasn’t where they were supposed to be.

                She found an island that smelled like spiced apples. It was quiet and didn’t have any Marine bases – none that she could find, anyways. It was there that she set their lifeboat adrift – the waters here were calm and barely touched by the storm – and gently nudged it towards the beach. She watched the tiny lifeboat gently rock as it steadily made its way towards the shore, finally beaching itself among the shells and the sand as a light snow began to fall.

                She couldn’t stay there any longer. She had to go back to bed.

                **_Whoever is there, please take care of my Sneaky Thief and Pervy Cook._**

                With that, the Going Merry faded away in the mist.


	30. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A dog, his owner, and a local blacksmith find a pair of drifters on the shores on their island one morning.

                Cobbler’s eyes opened.

                He could smell it downstairs. One of his three favorite meals of the day was finally ready.

                BREAKFAST.

                Excitedly he tore out of his bed, scrambled across the floor, and slammed into a wall on his way to the door. Shaking it off, he bolted from the room, raced down the stairs, and slid into the kitchen, looking eagerly at Mac. He knew that it was breakfast time, Mac knew it was breakfast time, so why wasn’t his breakfast ready yet?!

                Mac looked at him with sleepy eyes. “How are you so energetic this early in the morning?”

                Cobbler continued to stare and cocked his head to the side. How could he NOT be?

                Mac yawned, fumbling with a handful of dry food and a can of wet food. Cobbler started to salivate. Those were his two favorite breakfast foods (and lunch foods, and dinner foods). Sure, people food was exciting, too, but Mac didn’t let him have it very often, even if he begged (actually, especially if he begged) and he usually had to rely on a visitor to the house to sneak him a piece of ham or some chicken or whatever it was they had on them.

                Cobbler couldn’t figure out why nobody – not even guests – would give him shoes, though.

                Mac finally put his food bowl down on the floor and Cobbler greedily stuck his face in it. Now that he was eating breakfast the day could really begin. They’d get to go out on a walk soon, and maybe they would play with his ball or a stick, or maybe he’d get a stomach rub. Maybe, just maybe, he’d get a biscuit, and that would just make the day AMAZING.

                The happy dog watched as his owner opened the door to the backyard. Ah, so it was this kind of morning. That was okay, he didn’t mind at all. He had some toys out there and one of his favorite pee spots, and it was okay to do that sometimes. There was plenty of room to run around, so it was just a little less scenic than a walk.

                Mac rubbed his knee. Cobbler frowned. Sometimes he had trouble walking on that leg. He didn’t know why – certainly sometimes the human looked like he was in pain, but he didn’t seem angry or sad about it. He would just grit his teeth, let the moment pass, and be done with it. It was one of the reasons why backyard days happened – between that and the human’s very busy schedule that sometimes left him too exhausted to keep up with him.

                His eyes lit up when he saw what was in the backyard.

                It was the cold white stuff.

                AWESOME!

                After marking his territory and bounding around in the snow for a bit, Cobbler nudged against the gate and found, much to his surprise and delight, the gate was open. Funny, Mac didn’t USUALLY leave the gate open. He turned to the human, but saw the human had gone inside. Cobbler cocked his head to the side. Maybe Mac had to pee – humans liked to pee in the big white water bowls inside of houses, which was weird, because he got in trouble as a puppy if he did that inside.

                Cobbler pushed the gate open with his nose and trotted outside of the gate, looking around happily and wagging his tongue as he went on his own little walk. Perhaps he’d find one of the other dogs from town to play with, or one of the other humans – some of them liked to scratch him behind the ear or give him treats.

                The dog wandered onto the beach. The water was cold, and everything smelled like salt and sand and fish. He woofed and continued on, catching sight of a small boat. Curious, he crept towards it and sniffed. Funny. Most of the time boats just smelled like fish. This boat smelled like the doctor. He growled, but then the boat made a sound.

                Curious, Cobbler poked his head over the side.

                There were two very sick humans inside. One of them was awake, and she (it smelled like a female) was looking at him funny. She lifted a hand and he sniffed it, whimpering. She mumbled something, and Cobbler knew that something was very, very wrong. He jumped into the boat and licked their faces. The girl didn’t respond much, the other one (male) didn’t wake up.

                Cobbler threw his head back and started to howl.

 

                “Stupid . . . ignorant . . . braindead . . .”

                Marcus Braeburn had McIntosh Smith’s arm over one shoulder as he helped the mayor follow the obvious path that the dog had gone on. “He’s a dog, Mac – Cobbler doesn’t know any better. He sees someplace new to go and he just goes. Once he sees us he’ll probably come running over, bark, and then follow us back to your place for food.”

                Mac sighed, thankful that the blacksmith just happened to drop by that morning. He’d left the dog for just a few minutes to get the front door. He and the blacksmith exchanged pleasantries (Braeburn asked about Mac’s mother, and Mac asked how the seamstress and her small family was doing). His bad knee was acting up again but, despite the old injury, he wanted to help look for Cobbler and not just leave it in Braeburn’s hands. “You’re right. Cobbler’s a good dog, he’s just . . . he’s just . . . young, I guess. He’s barely over a year old.”

                “See? Might as well still be a puppy. It’s not like they turn a year old and suddenly they’re a model dog. It doesn’t work that way with people, either – you think I magically became a responsible adult at midnight when I turned eighteen? Hell no – I disappeared for three days on my parents and got into all sorts of trouble I hope they never found out about. He just needs some more training and then voila – the perfect canine companion you’ve always wanted,” the blacksmith said with a grin.

                The mayor and the blacksmith heard the sound of Cobbler’s howling and barking. Mac blanched. “That is not one of his normal cries. Something’s going on.” The two men moved as quickly as they could towards the sound of the barking, while a hundred thoughts buzzed through Mac’s mind. Was Cobbler hurt? What he frightened of something?

                “COBBLER! COBBLER!” Mac yelled.

                A small, washed up lifeboat came into view. Cobbler was standing in it, and when he saw his master he started barking, jumping out of the boat and pacing back and forth in front of it. Braeburn froze, his eyes wide. “Washed up lifeboat? Shit.” The blacksmith left Mac where he stood and ran towards the lifeboat, Mac limping behind as fast as he could. _Braeburn’s right – my bad knee might not be as bad as whatever’s in that boat._

                “MAC! MAC! GIVE ME YOUR COAT!”

                The sound of desperation and panic in the blacksmith’s voice was strong enough that he didn’t question it. This was compounded by the removal of Braeburn’s jacket , which he was placing in the lifeboat – someone was alive in that boat and in bad shape. He started to take his jacket off and threw it to Braeburn, who caught it and placed it in the boat as well.

                Cobbler was barking up a storm the whole time.

                “What is . . . oh God.”

                Inside of the lifeboat was a pair of shaking, shivering people. They had been shaved bald, looked severely underweight, and had bare legs that made Mac question what they were wearing besides the jackets he and the blacksmith had donated. Their skin was pale and sickly, like they hadn’t seen the sun in a long, long time. One of them was awake and crying – the other was unconscious and looked pained, but was still breathing.

                “What do we do, Mac?” asked Braeburn.

                Mac closed his eyes. Now was not the time for him to panic. He was the mayor of this island, and it was up to him to provide leadership. “We’re going to carry them back to my house,” he said, kneeling down and gathering up the conscious one. She (it sounded like a she) was still crying, but Mac gently tried to soothe her. “It’s going to be okay – you’re safe now. We’re going to get you warmed up and get your something to eat.”

                “Mac, what about your knee?” asked Braeburn, staring at the mayor in shock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that is the end of A Force Against Inertia, the first long book in the Laws of Motion series.
> 
> First and foremost, the thanks yous:
> 
> To God, for everything.
> 
> To everyone who looked at the story, bounced ideas with me, or did any kind of a spelling/grammar check for me. In particular I want to thank Triple C and MishaGirl who extended the most help of this kind (although several others including but not limited to Dandy Wonderous, Bronze Tigress, and people I know in real life also helped out).
> 
> To everyone who left positive and/or constructive feedback on the story as it was posted.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the story! The next short story in the series, "Sought", should be out today with the beginning chapters of the next long story, _Mass x Acceleration_ , coming tomorrow.
> 
> I realize most of the people who follow One Piece of AO3 may have already seen this story on Livejournal or Fanfiction.Net, but thank you to anyone who left kudos here, too!
> 
> Thank you, take care of yourselves, and stay happy and healthy!

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to know what Luffy and the others are up to, please check out "Vanished", located under the series listing.


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